Mega Man X: 1.5
by tremor3258
Summary: Completed! Things REALLY get shaken up in the last chapter. Plus teasers for 2.5 and omake!
1. And, we're back!

Mega Man X 1.5

  
  


Apple of the Public's Eye

  
  


"Zero, this had better be important. I'm very busy," muttered X, "Between holding off the press with one hand and Mavericks with the other, things would be bad enough without Dr. Cain retiring in disgrace." Zero stood before X in his office, looking at him with a smug grin.

  
  


"That's right. Dr. Cain's retiring. We really should go to his party. I mean, he's only the guy who brought Reploids to the world," Zero said chuckling. The reaction was worth it as papers scattered everywhere as X nearly flipped his desk over as he used it for leverage when he stood up straight in shock and looked guilty. Cain was the man who found X, and acted a bit like a surrogate father. For that matter, Cain had first helped restore Zero's unstable personality patterns after brought in by Sigma (pre-Maverick). 

  
  


Despite the amount the planet owed them, there was a price many wanted to extract from Cain, and it seemed to have caught up with him. Cain himself had built Sigma, outfitting him with the most advanced systems at the time, and look where THAT had ended up. Then there was Double, who was the same story all over again. Worse yet, Maverick Hunter policies were coming under close examination following the Repliforce incident. Half the population was afraid of what would happen to the Hunters now that the remnants of Repliforce were in their ranks, and the other half was furious over the way an incident's blame had been immediately attached to the group, leading to an all out war that nearly concluded with Final Weapon devastating the planet. The world was tired of last-minute crisis being narrowly averted, and figured crisis would be a bit farther apart if cooler heads could prevail on occasion. The attacks on Cain's history, who had once been nothing but an archeologist thrust uncomfortably into the public eye, seemed to have finally taken the man's energy. He was standing now, and no one knew who would replace him. 

  
  


That reminded Zero of something, "So, how's the betting pool coming along for Cain's replacement?" Zero and X walked through the massive Hunter complex, home, fortress, and training ground for hundreds of Hunters on their way to the garage. As Unit Commanders, they couldn't just teleport to the location where the party was held. Instead, they got to ride in a convoy of limos.

  
  


X looked at Zero in amusement, and said in a shocked tone, "Why Zero? I'm the 'Father of Reploids' and a Unit Commander. I'm beyond such petty things as gambling." In a more normal tone, X said, "I've got your slot for a week's pay. I heard that the Eighth got together and bought my slot in the pool at a week's pay each." Zero whistled at the thought of that kind of money. The way the pool worked is you could spend more money to take over the winnings if someone became commander. Everyone figured X took Zero's spot to be nice, and had a much larger bet being carried by a low-ranked Hunter. 

  
  


Actually, X put the odds on Zero since Zero had been one of the few people who had held out that Repliforce was innocent from the Sky Lagoon attack up until the General ordered the escape from human society. The timing was really lousy, and the phrasing had made Zero agree to go along with attacking the Reploids who had been declared Maverick as he feared Colonel and Iris were minorities among Repliforce's soldiers. Zero had been the lead designer on getting the Repliforce soldiers who were still alive attached to the Hunters. X's main thoughts of the time tended to send him into deep depression (with Double primarily and innocent Reploid after innocent Reploid being called Maverick). 

  
  


X followed up the line of reasoning with a simple question, "Has there been any change?" Zero shook his head sadly. Ajax had been repaired, upgraded, and was undergoing training with Unit 0, and seemed to be shaping up to have high-level skills. Alia, Laser Wolf, Jazz, and Bebop, had yet to revive. There was definite activity in their circuits, but they seemed to be stuck in comas, unresponsive to the outside world

  
  


Zero said thoughtfully, "They're reactivating the simulators today, though. They think that there may have been a fault caused by being connected to the simulator's interface when we burned it out, and the sensory shock may have caused their external sensors to go off-line. The only thing for that scenario is it explains the weird echoes we're getting, like they're alive one minute and gone the next." X nodded. He was just glad they had managed to stop the group of Hunters who wanted to kill off the four just to be safe. It was small, but X wasn't fond since he had seen a day where Hunter was ready to kill Hunter for failing in a mission. The one-time Maverick readings had disappeared, but it was enough to keep some Hunters angry and suspicious. Lancer, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get his wings on a team that had placed in the Top Five slots on the simulator battle (taking up four of said slots). 

  
  


For now, however, the four dreamt while the world raged about their fate around them. 

  
  


To be continued

  
  


Author's Note:

  
  


That was actually the best stopping place I could find. Sorry. This particular piece wasn't working out too well, as I had a lot of baggage that had to at least be admitted. Basically, a little psych piece. Personally, I'm starting to wonder why X doesn't go and hunt down the people who come up with the Maverick directives. I promise to pick up next time at the party, where things get shaken up in a way I certainly didn't think of when I was starting this. Dr. Cain gets to say goodbye, despite never actually showing up in this story beforehand, but Cain at least deserves a decent send-off in the X4-X5 period since he found X. 

  
  



	2. An ounce of prevention

Mega Man X 1.5

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Disclaimer: Bebop, Jazz, Laser Wolf, and Ajax are mine. Everyone else, including the setting, belongs to Capcom, a very nice set of people. 

  
  


An ounce of prevention.

  
  


Zero ignited his beam saber calmly. The Z-saber's standard blade was pure plasma, easily one of the most destructive forces known, rolled up into a one meter long package of death. After Zero had gained the Saber following his reconstruction, he had modified it by taking a peek at X's buster design and adding the ability for the hilt to modify the plasma into other forms, like fire or ice. To do so required careful observation of an opponent to gain the new techniques held within the saber. Now days, Zero rarely even felt the need to activate his buster, so proficient was he with the weapon. 

  
  


But Zero wasn't giving the saber a once over simply to bask in the aura of destructive might. The Crimson Hunter had a job to do, and was determined to add another notch to his rank of successful missions. With a loud yell, Zero sliced the saber through the air, bringing it down towards the unprotected skull of the human in front of him.

  
  


Zero brought the blade, relatively weightless, to a halt a scant few centimeters away from Dr. Cain's bald head. It wouldn't cause damage, but the heat coming off the blade would be enough to break the good doctor into a hard sweat. "All right, on behalf of all the Hunters, support staff, and research groups, WHO THE HELL IS REPLACING YOU?" Zero roared at the elderly scientist. X had his face in his hands in embarrassment on the other side of Dr. Cain as the most famous Hunters were in a place of honor inside a limo with the Hunter's chief administrator. 

  
  


Cain reached over and thumbed the off-switch on the saber, as the blade disappeared with a small hint of ozone. Zero glared tiny beam daggers at Cain, who ignored the Hunter's temper. Dr. Cain said smugly, "You'll know when everyone else does, or maybe even later, if you keep swinging that saber in my face. You know, some day, you're going to make a mistake, and cleave through someone's skull with that thing and we'll be forced to 'retire' you, just like that," Cain said in a warning tone.

  
  


Zero looked at Cain in shock, "You're the one who WROTE that directive. You can't make it sound like something unchangeable and tragic."

  
  


Cain said in a soft tone, "Sure I can. I'm getting old. I'm supposed to be getting near senile." Zero sent "near?" in a quick burst of static at X, who choked out a laugh, though he still looked embarrassed. "Ganging up on me again?" Cain noted in amusement, "How will that play in the media, attacking a helpless person in such a manner?" Cain said in a sadder tone, "Besides boys, no matter what my personnel opinions are on the matter, if Hunters were allowed any leeway in response to what could be Maverick activity, we'd be in an even worse position with the public than we are now. Humans are still paranoid of Reploids, and our activities over the last few months have killed a lot of the confidence that there's been in the Hunters."

  
  


X looked up at that and asked, "Speaking of helpless persons, did you put that 'no shoot' directive in place for the comatose Hunters in the medical wing?" X hadn't had a chance to ask directly about the Reploids to Cain himself, and with most of the commanders heading to the retirement party, the people in the medical bay would be trigger-happy rookies. 

  
  


Cain nodded uneasily, he had put that part down, but he hadn't had time to study the situation closely with all the interference he had to run before the press. That wasn't good enough for the elite Hunters, and the doctor quickly clarified, "They won't be harmed, but depending on their reactions before their systems come on-line, we may have to consider them infected if they act too aggressively." The two robots looked at the scientist and shock.

  
  


Zero said in a cold tone, "Well, I'm glad you're retiring now before you really fubared us, Cain." Cain looked at Zero in surprise and X quickly clarified.

  
  


"You did read the report that we found them unconscious fighting Sigma, right? What would your initial reaction be after say, being shot?" X asked. Cain winced, he had read the summary to the report, saying they had taken massive amounts of cumulative damage, and X continued relentlessly, "Not to mention Bebop and Jazz's startup procedures are a little odd, like most of the rest of their systems. They have real psychological problems with being confined. If they're trapped when they awaken, they may assume Mavericks have taken them." 

  
  


Cain wasn't looking to happy about now, but Zero finished thoughtfully, "Not to mention that their circuit patterns aren't fully understood. There's a chance we may not have fully deactivated their weaponry this time, not to mention those fairly nasty claws that they came issued with. I doubt they'd make an issue of it, but if they're systems are partially locked down, they'll realize someone was probing their systems, and who knows what was changed. They may fire back in an effort to prove they're not Mavericks. 'Innocent Hunters retired due to badly thought-out orders' won't look good on tomorrow's front pages, right X? I mean, assuming I understand how humans think to any degree."

  
  


Cain tapped on the glass separating their portion from the driver as the two Hunters glared at the elderly doctor. The glass rolled down, and Cain said, a bit more smoothly (he'd been getting lots of experience with false smiles recently), "Driver, I'd like to make a phone call please." Zero gave X a thumbs-up, confident the people who had at least showed that something was up in the simulator, even if they hadn't quite finished the boss off at the end, wouldn't be shot out of hand. 

Shot out of inexperienced fear, perhaps, but not out of hand, X thought glumly. If Jazz's systems still showed a Maverick reading after she was reactivated, she'd have to be destroyed. 

  
  


The limos quickly wove their way through the light ground traffic in Tokyo (more and more stuff was moving to being carried by intracity aircraft) before reaching the countryside outside Tokyo. The trip had been fairly quiet up to this point, with no one talking in the car, and Zero estimated he would have to put up with the silence for another half hour or so before the caravan reached the beach Cain Labs had managed to gain sole access to for a few hours. Well, Cain Labs and a few reporters. 

  
  


The countryside rolled past quickly, still consisting of farms for the most part even in this century. The advantage hydroponics gave in growing Japan's primary staple had turned farmland from the rice paddies of old into orchards or other grain crops for the most part. It made the area a bit more varied to look at, and Zero noted several menial robots out spraying a cherry orchard in the split second that the orchard flashed by the car. I really wish I could have warped, thought Zero mournfully. X was busy digging through the many compartments, while Cain had found the appetizer tray.

  
  


For once, Zero hadn't been spending his morning either in training or making other Hunters' jobs miserable with enhanced simulations. That had been Iris he had seen, though even a portrait wouldn't have been too difficult to put together. Even more disturbing was the apparent control over his body. Zero had managed to retrieve a partial reconstruction of the file, but the graphic was so huge, and Zero couldn't tell if someone had placed a virus command to be transmitted to him, some sort of hidden message, or just the fear of destroying something else of Iris. The portrait had been done in a studio-like setting, and Zero had done some playing around with graphics software to determine if the portrait had been done off an old picture by checking the light intensities against one another. For example, if Iris's face was over-highlighted compared to the background, then it would be obvious someone had painted Iris into a scene from another location. Those tests had been inconclusive. However, Zero had learned that Iris had been never been painted beforehand. Someone is going to a lot of work to drive me crazy, Zero mused, and it's getting worse. 

  
  


Zero had received an odd message on his machine this morning. He'd have thought it was spam from the subject line "click on me", but someone had managed to figure out how to trip Headquarter's private flags for a message being marked urgent. The line had only said "rise to conflicts today, and be rewarded." The reply address had been a public Internet terminal near Headquarters, but Zero had only gotten that information before the e-mail calmly overwrote itself with an add for a digital camera. Zero didn't want to mention anything to X yet, because all the evidence kept disappearing on him, and Zero knew his friend was still worried about the Crimson Hunter's mental health following Iris's death. Imagining ways to bring her back would fit neatly in that sort of profile. 

  
  


Zero was jolted from his musings by X, who had found a video game system in one of the compartments and was looking for a second player. Zero grimaced when he saw the game title, and Dr. Cain took a moment to snicker. One of many games in a series, the game X had found put you in the place of X's younger brother in one of the Robot Rebellions. The series had faded occasionally, and eventually returned to a place of prominence among sales. "Well, it could be worse," Zero mused, "it could have been one of the games based on you X." The Blue Bomber shuddered at the thought. All the hardships he and friends had gone to trivialized into a set of small explosions on the screen, no blood, and none of the screams. X didn't play those games, but admittedly, working the way through Rock's old exploits gave some sort of connection. Bebop and Jazz were fountains of information on Dr. Light, but they hadn't apparently gotten along very well with the other Light-built robots, and kept to themselves. Assuming we avoid the issue with Jazz lying to us, and poorly at that, thought Zero. Still, her build is different enough to avoid obvious connections, but if you've seen her circuit diagrams, or how she fights, it's pretty obvious. I just wish they'd tell us why those two kitties want to keep me confused about her relationship to me.

  
  


Zero was brought back to reality as his Proto man character was dropped onto a set of spikes. Zero cursed briefly at the machine before bringing his attention back. "You know, if those capsules ever give you something that takes care of the old spike trap, I'll trade you my z-saber for it," Zero said. 

  
  


X shook his head, "And have you go it alone? I think we need that budget for cataloguing all the geologically unstable areas with large, open shafts where you reach terminal velocity in if you're not careful. You can air-dash if you might fall on spikes. Not so easy if you're in midair." 

Zero nodded his agreement, and turned to look at Cain briefly. He wasn't showing a lot of response to the mild debate going on around him anymore. Zero shrugged, leave him to his memories. He won't have us to kibitz with, if he's not on active duty. Ninety percent of our day is classified material and the rest is top secret. 

  
  


The group quickly arrived at the area picked out for the barbecue. It was rather remote, which would keep humans and non-teleporter equipped Reploids away. For the rest, Cain Labs was relying on an anti-teleportation scrambler field that should block anything from landing within three kilometers. There were a few Hunters on guard for the rest of the area, and was as secure as one could manage in today's rapid transit world. 

  
  


Several Hunters had already lit some hibachis they had found around town in stores and were putting to good use in the art of grilling. A three times the normal-sized volleyball court had been established, calculated to make up for the difference in Reploid strength. X blinked in astonishment upon seeing Lancer with a Hawaiian shirt, leading a calypso band. That said, the activity started to die down when the various high-ranking Hunters noticed that Dr. Cain had arrived. Flashbulbs started to go off around the elderly researcher along with the top two Hunters. Zero preened, but X seemed amused by the attention. The reporters were waiting to pounce on the Reploid researcher until after his statement; that was the deal that got them to this farewell party.

  
  


A small electronics team was setting up speakers, and one ran over with a remote microphone. Dr Cain quickly attached it to his collar and said, "Don't everyone look at ME for words of wisdom. Besides, it was a long ride, and I'm not saying anything until I get some protein. Go back to providing blackmail fodder! Oh, don't look so surprised. Lancer, you're never living that shirt down?" Lancer lazily barred his fangs at the elderly scientist, before banging on his drum again. The Reploids went back to what they had been doing, realizing if they had lived this long with not knowing, they could wait a few more hours. Especially since Cain was footing the tab for the party.

  
  


Meaningless small talk was exchanged for a few hours. X could see almost every Reploid design known, along with a large contingent of humans. Scientist Reploids, usually built to look elderly to encourage respect from their human peers, from Cain labs, the more general humanoid Reploid designs, the heavy construction and attack Reploids, all were mingling with humans. X looked over the gathering, feeling a bit of paternal pride at those descendants of his circuitry patterns, This is the future father envisioned. Too bad that it only exists for now between warriors who have to face their own kind as threats that have to be eliminated.

  
  


Finally, the group calmed down as Cain shoved Lancer's band off-stage, with a larger microphone as a prop. Cain tapped it a few times to gain everyone else's attention before speaking, "I'd like to thank all of you coming out from here. I know we're in a rebuilding cycle right now, and you all have a lot of work to do with training." Dr. Cain wiped a tear from his eye before continuing.

  
  


"One week ago, a viral version of Sigma made itself known inside our simulator system, nearly infecting fifty cadet Hunters. It was only through a desperate, last minute action that we saved any Hunters, and four of them may never wake up. After the event, I submitted my resignation to the United Nations as Supreme Commander of the Maverick Hunters. At the same time, I requested being moved to an advisory capacity at Cain Labs. Recent events have proven that the old ways of thinking about Mavericks are dangerous, and that we'll need better intelligence to prevent tragedies like the events that led to Repliforce being disbanded." Cain motioned quickly, and one of the scientist type Reploids, evidenced by his slightly 'armored' appearance and a lab coat, ran up with a glass of water. Cain nodded his thanks before continuing.

  
  


"That resignation took effect five minutes ago, and my successor is moving into position at the same time. Waterboy here is your new commander. I hope you treat him with far more respect than you do me, because he deserves it." The Reploid climbed up on stage and bowed. Carrying the elderly image further, he had white hair, bizarre eyebrows, and a goatee. "This is Isoc. He's worked with our development teams over at Cain Labs for a few years, and has done pioneering work on Virus research. He'll have administrative control over the Maverick Hunters, which means he'll make sure the bills are payed. On the combat side of things, individual Units are under a new directive to use more discretion with Maverick hunting, and military control will actually be under a Hunter." A muttered wave of dissension went through the crowd. People had been expecting this, slightly, but the last time primary military control of the Hunters had gone through a Reploid, notable historical events happened. After all, that Reploid had been named Sigma.

  
  


Dr. Cain held up a hand for quiet. When that didn't work, Isoc fired a few buster shots into the air. Eventually the noise stopped. Dr. Cain continued, "Now, I think you'll find this Reploid has proven himself beyond suspicion. X, get your butt up here." Cheers broke out for the Blue Bomber. Zero pounded X on the shoulder (nearly downing the surprised mechanical). X looked around. It wasn't like he could just turn down the 'honor' of leading the Hunters to more war and death. X walked up on stage as Cain held the microphone over to Isoc. Isoc excused himself as he needed to find the notes he had dropped when he grabbed Cain's water.

  
  


Cain whispered to X, "Sorry X, I would have given it to Zero, but since we know exactly where your past is, the UN felt better about putting you in a position of authority. Your job is mainly to determine strategies and Hunter placement. Think of it as a way to minimize collateral damage." X looked at Cain skeptically. Cain shrugged, "It's thin, but it's all I've got. You're the greatest Hunter, and, honestly, PR value means putting anyone else in the Number One position wouldn't look good right now."

  
  


X shrugged in despondency, "Well, I was running half the Hunters anyway by going through the personnel evaluations. And if there's any sort of semi-major trouble, the first response from all the Hunters is to call me anyway."

  
  


Cain patted X on the back enthusiastically, "That's me boy!"

  
  


"Have you been drinking again, doctor?" X asked.

  
  


"Well, maybe a little?" Cain murmured, before jumping down from the stage to see if Unit 0 had any more of those beers handy. Isoc had managed to work his way back to the stage anyway by this point. Isoc spent a few moments on the sort of remarks one makes when one takes over a large organization dedicated to killing sentients ("follow in footsteps of predecessor... Ensure proper flow of supplies ... Keep up recruiting drives... Honor to be here.. Mavericks don't stand a snowball's chance in a supernova" etc., etc.. ad nauseam).

  
  


X was still standing on stage, looking uncomfortably out at the group of maybe 30 bored Unit Commanders, leaders of groups in Cain Labs, and other people loosely associated, but highly ranked, with the Hunters. Zero was idly tossing the hilt of his z-saber in the air. Eventually, he'd probably start igniting it. Isoc, getting the hint, finally brought his remarks around to something important, "Right now, I'd like to introduce you to a new weapon system that I think will greatly assist the Hunters." 

  
  


Everyone started paying rapt attention right then. Cain did a spit take. Evidently this was not on the agenda for the afternoon. Isoc grinned. "I apologize for the dramatics, however, this was the best way to get a demonstration with all the top people at once. Anyway, can we get the teleportation field to drop for three seconds in ten, please? Thank you." A short time later, a blue stream of particles dropped down. 

  
  


X's jaw dropped open and hung there. Standing next to Isoc on stage was a four foot high figure dressed in blue armor. The figure looked a LOT like a ten year old boy, and X could well imagine, that if X had actually grown up, this is how X would have looked a few years back.

  
  


"Meet Rock, ladies, gentlemen, and Reploids. The only thing Rock can't do is think, but he still has the most advanced learning subroutines of the twenty-first century. Many call him the Blue Bomber, but history knows him better as Mega Man." The savior of the world and victor of the Robot Rebellions calmly took a small bow in front of the Hunters who stood in a stunned silence. Rock looked around, not seeming to perceive the flashbulbs that were announcing that the hero had been reborn.

  
  
  
  


Author's Notes:

  
  


Where did he come from? ^_^ 

  
  


Well, that's for next time, which could go up any time from within three hours to now to there months. Let's see, unresolved plot points/plot lines(just to keep track), as I haven't touched on some of these for a while.

  
  


Hunters are not very well liked by public. If it wasn't for the fact that Sigma's apparently still out there somewhere, they'd probably be throwing all the Hunters into slag heaps about now.

  
  


Zero's receiving fortune cookie messages and pictures of his apparently dead girl friend. From whom? Well, I'll tell you one thing: there's a ninety-five percent chance Zero's not doing it to himself.

  
  


Is Jazz infected, or did lying under Sigma's corpse give a false positive. Or maybe a real positive?

  
  


What about the other three (Laser Wolf, Alia, and Bebop)?

  
  


What happened in between alerting the Hunters and Ajax waking up? Sigma had apparently triumphed, but they also weren't apparently infected.

  
  


Considering I've gotten Lifesaver, Signas, Alia, and now Isoc running around, who else is going to pop up from X5-6? For that matter, if Isoc built a Rock, who from the original series is going to show up?

  
  


Is anyone who isn't in the games going to wake up anytime soon? Are they going to tear the medical bay to pieces? 

  
  


Also, a minor point that hasn't been touched on with all the external threats: Repliforce and the Hunters still aren't too fond of each other, and no Repliforce yet holds a high-ranking position in the Hunter's organization. 

  
  


Who else thinks there is too many things going on and too many characters? Technically, with Dr. Cain, Isoc, and Rock, I introduced three this chapter, that puts us up to around fourteen who are still alive.

  
  


Speaking of characters: Did Surge just go back to his job (from waaaay back when Jazz and Bebop woke up), or did he receive counseling? 

  
  


Did Tremor just put this last statement in to make you wonder if Surge is going to play an important part in the next chapter? 

  
  


Of course I did. :)

  
  


Anyway, next time Isoc clarifies more about the old Blue Bomber. Some people are probably going to wake up soon, (after all, they said they were turning off the simulator while X and Zero were going to the picnic). Assuming they haven't gone stark raving mad, then the REAL questions begin.


	3. Family Feud-revised

Mega Man X 1.5

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Family Reunions

  
  


Zero absent-mindedly pushed his jaw back shut as he stared at the stage in disbelief. The four-foot high defender of the planet stood on stage, blinking in an apparently preset pattern despite the flashbulbs and questions being shouted out around a shell greatly resembling the original Mega Man. Whether it was Rock had yet to be seen.

  
  


"Isoc! While this may be an interesting side project, Mega Man can't be a match for modern weapons and thinking robots!" shouted a human reporter, "What's the point of reviving Light's creation besides nostalgic value?"

  
  


"First of all, the term is Reploids. Say it with me," Isoc said coldly, "Robot is a term meaning slave or servant in the original Czech, and I don't appreciate being used referring to my people. Mega Man is, however, a robot, but far smarter than most of the drones usually used. He was an important step on the way to a thinking machine, and while he couldn't break the Turing Test, most people wouldn't be able to tell Rock from a young boy, outside his armor of course," The reporters made polite chuckles at the joke. Isoc said in a more serious tone, "Still, Mega Man, with modern weapons, is equivalent to our high-level drone sentries in terms of combat capability."

  
  


X had, well, locked up on seeing his older brother. Let him have his fun, mused Zero, he's had a good year really for meeting family and getting holes in his past closed. This is as getting much closer to a family reunion. I mean, Jazz and Bebop were war dogs kept on a tight leash, judging by their story, schematics, and Dr. Light's sob story, Zero was feeling alliterative. The Crimson Hunter studied the hero from decades past, but this is someone who was there through all the rebellions, and the creation of the first Reploid. Well, supposedly there. X had snapped out of it as Isoc and Mega Man preened for the camera, and was studying the robot cautiously. Zero could understand what the new Strategic Commander was going through. What was inside the little metallic head of Isoc's pet project?

  
  


Zero yelled at his new Commander (on paper), "Isoc, I mean, great, you've built yourself a Mega blank, but without experience, any month-old Reploid with a blaster could take it out. No offense to your design work intended, but.." Zero trailed off.

  
  


Isoc nodded, and grinned at the Crimson Hunter, which set Zero on edge. He didn't like people showing so many teeth around him. "Well," explained Isoc in a smooth voice that made you want to trust him, "actually, this Rock is equipped with battle tapes put together from various sources over the original's years of activity. You can't download experience into a Reploid's head without overloading the mind, but robot's circuitry is a bit easier to deal with."

  
  


X said in a hopeful tone, "So, is this data taken from battle cameras, or did you actually grab some of Rock's old backups from the Robot Museum?" X walked over to peer at his brother. Their armor designs were quite similar, and except for the height difference, they could have been clones of each other. There was one major difference. X's face resembled a teenager's, but his eyes were much older. As X studied Rock's eyes, he noted they had an innocence that X doubted his had even when Cain had pulled him out of the capsule. X sighed, his brother may have been the next best thing to sentience when he was activated, and an experience warrior, but emotion-wise, Rock literally was a child. 

  
  


X shrugged, and started to turn away. Mega-copy asked, "What is the matter? Do I have something on my face? Who is this man, anyway, father?" 

  
  


X froze as if struck. Isoc raised his hands to forebear any outbursts on the Hunter's part. "As I said, I built him as closely to Dr. Light's specifications as our research allowed, including much of the original basic personality matrix. Rock was intended much as a child for Dr. Light, prior to Dr. Wily going insane. As such, Rock naturally looks up to me in such respect."

  
  


X nodded silently. Keep reminding yourself, X. Rock may have been your older brother, and advanced enough to carry on conversations, but he was only a robot. AI-enhanced anti-programming blocks or not. This may resemble the world's champion, but Zero's as likely to give up fighting as for Rock to suddenly be truly raised from the dead.

  
  


Isoc turned to the small robot, and said in the earnest voice of a father giving life-enriching instruction to his son, "This is X, Mega Man. Treat him as your younger brother." Rock blinked once as the directive was processed, and then looked at X with a condescending, "I'm letting you stay near me only because Dad said so," sneer. Zero started to guffaw. He'd watched enough TV to become acquainted with the look.

  
  


The reporters chuckled. Isoc pretended to look regretful, "Sorry X. I think my personality matrices could use a little work, but I always was more of a hardware designer than a programmer." Zero made a note of this. He didn't talk a lot with Cain Labs' staff, as he was pretty much top of the line anyway, but he hadn't heard of Isoc. Any good information would come in handy.

  
  


"Speaking of design work," segued Isoc, "Mega Man has always been a mobile fighter, so we haven't enhanced his armor as much as we could. We did, however, give him the latest in variable weapon grid technology and plasma cannon technology. It's no plasma shot, but it's still quite powerful."

  
  


"Mega Man, of course, unlike Reploids, has the First Law hard-wired into him. His programming is far more immutable, and is nearly complex as a Reploid's. He can't harm humans, and it's unlikely that the Virus will be able to infect his systems, due to the difference in technology base for his mind." There was a lot of murmuring at that. Hunter firepower without the danger of going Maverick? That was something the world had been searching to find for almost a decade.

  
  


X studied the younger robot. He could mimic quite well, but Isoc had everything up to this point running so smoothly it was almost a script. X firmly believed that his older brother was at least almost sentient. Bebop had never managed to answer the question in a satisfactory matter. However, X firmly believed the Virus, which had proven it had the ability to mutate, could at least infect any advanced computer system. How else did Sigma manage to run around all the time in computer form? 

  
  


X told Isoc so, "Isoc. I hate to rain on everyone's parade, and show a flaw with your new toy, but this is important. Sigma has never been slow about using the Virus to infect anything that might be useful. Quite a few of the drones he uses show traces of the infection. Saying it's impossible to avoid infection is putting poor Rock here right on the firing line to become Maverick."

  
  


Isoc sighed, and said, "I meant what I meant. The First Law of Robotics is carved into Mega Man's psyche. Virus nanomachines might be able to reach him and download the virus, but if Rock's thought processes ever came back with the possibility of harming humans, the power line to his fusion shielding is cut." 

  
  


Zero stood at the bottom of the platform, and was practically able to look the tiny Rock in the eye. "So you're saying we've got a walking bomb with heavy firepower. He doesn't have the personality circuits of the original that protected him from reprogramming. He has the battle experience, but he has little human interaction ability. What happens with psychological damage, or if he has to set someone's arm back in their socket, which causes pain. You know, I'm so confident of the world's safety, I may just hand in my resignation now." A few reporters gave nervous chuckles. 

  
  


Isoc froze, stricken for a moment, "That may be a possible flaw in the design, but any new robot, or Reploid, needs some time to learn. We can't simply send him to the scrap heap because he overreacts to something. Or was your little speech about taking more care on who to judge Maverick, just that, X?" Zero's eyes burned with fury at seeing his verbal attack redirected at his friend, but the calmer X merely nodded. Zero shook himself. His temper would get the best of him one day. Right now, it was probably a good idea to see if any hot dogs were left.

  
  


Rock-copy was worried. His existence was possibly in danger, and Rock had long ago been designed to protect his own existence. But who did that? the hero reborn wondered. He did a quick search of old tapes. Those who denigrated his abilities often tried to destroy him. The conclusion was simple when you're only a week old: Zero had to be destroyed. 

  
  


Zero had just managed to scrounge up a burger when Mega Man, the original version (copy), gave a rebel yell and did his infamous slide move to scurry past the legs of the taller Reploids. Zero started to turn, figuring that someone had started the music again when a heavy charged shot slammed into his chest, knocking his energy level down. Zero howled as the heavy plasm attempted to burrow through his chest armor before dissipating. 

  
  


Zero whipped out his saber and was a moment away from igniting it as he surveyed the area. It was pure luck that no humans had been hit, so far, but what had happened? Various commanders were taking to the air, and Zero noted that X was putting his latest toy on a test run.

  
  


Post-battle analysis had shown that Jazz had warped off her Dr. Light granted armor. Even with the Force Armor, X didn't have a lot of modularity with it, but it could be disconnected. Taking a look at Jazz's teleport systems, X had added in a warping capability for his armor. Zero's systems merrily noted the anti-teleport field being deactivated by X, as apparently something in the crowd was firing and it was no longer necessary. With a flare of light, an energy beam enfolded X. When it disappeared, X was wearing the gold, whites, and reds of the latest gift from Dr. Light, armed with plasma shot capabilities and the Nova Strike. 

  
  


Zero had considered it odd at the time that no 'super-capsule' had shown up with some sort of insane power upgrade, but X assumed that the additional arm capsule was the super-capsule for the time being. As it had turned out, the extra power hadn't been necessary, and X's fourth armor set easily cleared the Repliforce opposition. That same mighty power was ready to be turned against the current enemies.

  
  


Throughout the scurrying field of Hunters and technicians, another shot lanced out towards Zero. This time, the Hunter was ready and he quickly ignited his green blade. With a mental command, Zero boosted the power output of the saber, turning it lilac. With a quick slice, the saber's plasma field counteracted the plasma bolt headed at Zero, forming a quick cloud of charged particles around the Crimson Hunter before the activity died down. In a Maverick base, this would be no difficulty. Here, Zero looked at the grass fires extending a few meters away from him in each direction, and realized he'd be unable to use the Tenkuuha again with the threat of the crowd suddenly turning and rushing in his direction. The shot had come from a different area, and the crowd scurried to get away, while Hunters moved towards it. Zero had a better way, however, then moving through the non-combatants.

  
  


Zero jumped into the air to try and get a better view, and grinned ferally as another energy shot launched at him. In the air, it was easy to figure out which position the attacks were coming from. Zero noted X was hovering over for a look as well. Zero quickly did his double-jump, relying on his natural balance sense to land him in the correct spot. Zero quickly ignited his blade and somersaulted down to slash.

  
  


Once Zero hit the ground, he looked up and saw what he had hit. Armor open from one shoulder down to his hip, Rock stood there, looking stunned as Zero was. The crowd continued to scurry away as Hunters tried to force their way to the shot location.

X's thrust was about to run out, but he saw an opening near Zero, presumably the location of the attacker. X launched his plasma shot off. Devastating as it normally was, with Mega-clone's armor ripped apart, the cohesive energy field burned its way through delicate circuits, frying many of the robot's systems into crusted, blackened versions of their formerly working selves. Realizing the danger was past, reporters started to send their remote cameras in for closer shots. Rock struggled to his feet. He had come back from worse problems than this, and he would not be destroyed.

And such was not to be today. Lancer showed off his weapon system. Like most bat-types, Lancer had a 'night' theme weapon. The dark void caused gravity damage normally, but the charged version drained energy away. It was relatively slow, but Rock was already crippled. The mighty robot fell over, stuck in stasis lock as his energy was gone. X rushed through the crowd, and screamed in horror as he saw who he had fought. X was familiar with plasma shot damage, and recognized the effects. Zero saw X's face, and went over to comfort him, but the Strategic Commander teleported away.

  
  


Zero looked around. The Blue Bomber was off-line, and the damage he had taken looked very messy indeed. Those without a doctor's, or Hunter's knowledge of what made Reploids tick would assume grievous, probably irreparable damage. And the great hero had been shown taken down, rather brutally, by three top Hunters. Zero didn't want to think about what public opinion would do to them.

  
  


No one dared ask it, as tempting fate is a dangerous game with one rule: you lose. Still, on everyone's minds was the same phrase, Can anything else go wrong today? Signas chose that moment to come onto the radio, informing the various Unit Commanders that the four sleepers had woken up, had seen the tail tend of the fight, and that the latest Virus analysis results had come back an inconclusive.

  
  


"Wonderful," muttered Zero, summing up the general feeling for the rest of the Hunters. 

  
  


To be continued

  
  


Author's Notes:

  
  


This has been HEAVILY revised (everything from the second half of the second page on down to 'No one dared ask it').

  
  


Why? I didn't like the direction the original was taking things. It was getting too complicated. So, nothing left to do but retcon the previous chapter and start over.

  
  


This is like my sixteenth draft for this chapter. And yet, it's a bridging episode. The next chapter is where the plot was supposed to get moving again. (Mega Man shows up and dies is not major plot. Reaction to the event is major plot).

  
  


Next time: Everyone's back awake, but do they really want to be? The quartet deals with suspicion of being Maverick, while others deal with anger at the growing rift between the Hunter's civilian overseers and the military Units.

  
  


Final note: Evidently, I like the word 'scurry' I use it about six times here..


	4. Interlude: Underground amid Inner Turmoi...

Interlude: Within the Lion's Den

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Disclaimer: Setting, Mega Man X (from multiple games, a lot of 4, some of 5, and some of 6) characters used without permission. Owned by Capcom, who, despite making a great series of games, think Reploids have DNA, but they're willing to let people write lots of stories about their characters, so all is forgiven. ^_^ 

  
  


At this point, it may be noted that Maverick Hunter Headquarters has prime real estate located only thirty miles from the edge of the park lands of Mount Fuji. It sits squat on a three-hundred acre parcel of land, donated from land recently declared 'safe' from volcanic activity by a grateful Japanese government to the early Maverick Hunters. This piece of land is, naturally, massively expensive as recent expansion means it sits within a well-developed portion of Tokyo.

  
  


However, the Hunters have kept much of the land used for beauty and beauty's sake alone. Beautiful flowering trees, many cherry, as they grow easily in the soil, shade various meandering paths along with five separate fishing ponds. The Hunters leave it open to the public as a service, and many Hunters like to spend downtime there. 

  
  


Despite the Hunters' valiant, some might say desperate. efforts, there is no hiding the mailed and deadly fist that rests enshrined in its acres of velvet. A ten story dome, exactly a tenth of a kilometer in diameter, and created out of durasteel, one of the hardest metals of which mass-production is feasible, and a metal whose heat dispersion properties make concentrated laser fire (such as from orbit-deployed X-ray lasers), nearly useless. The building is painted a cheery green and blue to match in better with its peaceful surroundings, but no amount of paint could hide the heavy weapons mounts located within the walls of Headquarters. After Repliforce equipment had become more available to the Hunters themselves, Headquarters' frightening defenses had been upgraded again. It should be noted it's been years since any Maverick attacked Headquarters. Zero had once put it, "He may be Maverick, but Sigma's not crazy." 

  
  


Yet, the upper levels of Headquarters was really a shell. The financial offices that tracked appropriations, many of the living quarters, and even many of the individual Unit common rooms, were located in this upper area. All important things, true, but the Hunters could continue to fight without them. 

  
  


Which is why a single bundled shaft carries air and a few elevator cars to the real Headquarters, buried under almost twenty meters of rock, dirt, and durasteel. Here lie the medical bays, most of the training equipment, the Hunter armories, and strategic command center (aka war room). This area is only five stories deep, but each story sprawls out from beneath the dome (sloping down to retain some additional protection). The Hunters dug this area out, through heavy lava rock and risking cave-ins, for a possibility no one likes to talk about. The dome was designed to take tactical nuclear warheads and retain its integrity. Headquarters was designed to retain full battle-support capabilities for up to three months even after TWO direct attacks by Final Weapon (the most powerful system the Hunters could get schematics on to calculate what they needed to survive against). 

  
  


Twenty-eight minutes before Zero was attacked by a recreation of the original four-foot high Blue Bomber, Signas, acting under authority from X, Senior Unit leader, and Dr. Cain, outgoing head of Cain Labs and the Maverick Hunters, reactivated the master computer-controller for the Maverick Hunters holographic training facilities. 

  
  


The quarantine bay for the Hunters medical facility is small (as are the facilities, at least compared to living quarters or the armories, most Hunter casualties are also fatalities). It's main purpose is to study new forms of the Virus in the hopes that someday, a true, long-range anti-virus will be found. Right now, four Reploids have waited for almost a week, comatose and unseeing and unhearing. Alia, Laser Wolf, Jazz, and Bebop had fallen in battle against Sigma in a fight that saved the lives of fifty Hunter cadets by delaying the leader of Mavericks and alerting the rest of the Hunters to the problem. 

  
  


However, their minds seemed to have been lost as completely as Sigma. No response, even directly applied to the sensory pathways, had provoked a response, and only low levels of activity had been detected. Lifesaver and other medical officers had repaired the physical damage as best they could, which had taken much of the week. Between Wolf's hardened armor and massive multiple redundancies, Alia's extremely delicate, yet numerous pathways, and Jazz and Bebop basically being understood only in the dimmest sense of the word, the work had been long and arduous. Meanwhile, damage to the simulator complex was repaired, and now Signas was going through the last few stages of reactivating the system.

  
  


Damage reports and battle analysis had indicated that all four had activated the systems that had been deactivated to allow for about equal levels of ability in the simulator. Since the simulator hadn't been deactivated, it had instead adapted, including ALL their systems into the battle functions of the master computer. With the systems off-line, it was thought that since everything was being routed to a dead end before it touched the circuits, there could be no response. Hopefully, bringing the simulator up would throw them out of the loop and back into their own bodies. If this didn't work, it was very likely that none of the four would ever come back.

  
  


Twenty-seven minutes before Mega-clone was sent off-line, Signas took a deep breath, and flipped the final row of safeties off. The holographic matrices were warmed and ready. The last thing was to cut in the response circuits that determined damage as it was dealt to Hunters in the simulator. When these went on, either the four would awaken, or the Hunters would have four late-technology Reploid shells to unload. Signas hesitated for a moment and stabbed down on the button.

  
  


With a surge of power, Alia and Wolf's systems began to respond, once again, to the world around them. After a moment, they opened their eyes with alarm. There was a memory gap there, and they couldn't quite bridge it. The four were tied down with restraints, due to the possibility of being infected, and the two thrashed for a moment before quieting as internal diagnostics reported the massive amounts of damage their bodies had incurred repaired. Lifesaver sent word up to Signas, "These two are clean, release them?" 

  
  


Signas quickly confirmed the order, and asked, "How are our kittens doing?" 

  
  


Lifesaver laughed nervously, "Would you believe I don't know? All I know is they haven't moved much or opened their eyes." Lifesaver quickly explained before Signas could answer a lot of questions, "Blame Light's enhancements as usual. Frankly, it's a good thing we didn't know about the Virus in the first Uprising. I've read the medical logs, and after X got his complete set of armor, we couldn't read a thing past one centimeter into his skin, anywhere. Hell, once X got that nifty fireball maneuver, sensors stopped working within five meters of X." Signas shuddered at the thought. Under current rules, X would have been killed merely for having managed to become a more effective weapon against the Mavericks.

  
  


"We really have to change these regulations, Lifesaver. Anyway, what can you read on them?" Signas said wearily. Resetting the simulator had taken a great deal of time and effort, and the training commander was worn out. 

  
  


Lifesaver had it worse over the previous week. He had the most experience with Jazz and Bebop's systems, both before and after their upgrade, and had been assigned to doing the repair work. Both looked like high-velocity shrapnel had riddled their systems, they were covered in plasma burns, and Bebop's servos had nearly burned out. Lifesaver paused, something about that last piece sounded familiar. Unfortunately, all the team could do was try and remove damage, provide some raw materials, and pump energy into the auto-repair systems at an enhanced rate, as well as repair some of the cosmetic and obvious circuit damage. Most of the interior stuff they had been unable to access, since they didn't have the codes to remove Light's armor enhancements. Without those, the two were effectively locked tight, and the medical team could only work through existing tears in their outer armor. At least there were a lot of them, so access was easy, thought the doctor with grim humor. 

  
  


Lifesaver stared at their readings in disgust, "I don't think they've been infected. Their data signatures from their neural networks is almost the same as the last medical scan so far. Luckily, they were in here for tests so often we have excellent base line readings. Unfortunately, all those tests didn't get us any closer to doing deep scans of their interior, so it's possible the Virus is waiting there. Unless you have a big drill and you're willing to gouge out half their fusion shielding, you could tell what's going on in their centers." Signas groaned in frustration. Lifesaver mused, "Actually, come to think of it, if we could confirm one as clean, that one would be able to scan the other. We've detected a weak tightbeam link. It seems to be active when they're reasonably close to each other."

  
  


Signas grinned, "Swapping gossip?" he theorized.

  
  


Lifesaver said, "Actually, they're probably swapping upgrade information. They explained a bit of what happened last time, and their systems swapped notes then as while. It makes their circuits nightmares to traces for Maverick nanos, since they'll wake up and we have to retrace their circuit paths, since they've gone through a complete redesign in the night." Signas was quiet, probably in amazement, and Lifesaver continued, "I think Light programmed in an urge to improve, and the ability to do so. I checked the records, X tends to do the same thing, and make moderate jumps in efficiency of his systems. Considering the number of templates he's gotten from Dr. Light's armor, give that boy long enough and he'll build his own air-dash boots into himself." 

  
  


Lifesaver was impressed again as he thought of the potential that idea represented. Light really did know what he was doing, but sometimes Lifesaver wished Light could have been clairvoyant as well and anticipate the Virus. Ah well, something for future generations to do, mused the medical Reploid.

  
  


Lifesaver was startled from his thoughts by a low, urgent beeping alarm on the console. Activity was on the rise within the two sleeper's brains. The energy quickly passed the threshold required for activation. Lifesaver said, "They seem to be waking up okay, but they sustained greater physical trauma than the other two did, and we don't know if the repairs were done correctly. Of course, their weapons are deactivated, and they're restrained, so we'll see what happens." On the monitors, the two pairs of eyes opened, pools of darkness with amber rims, but servomotors quickly adjusted their pupil apertures, thinning the pupils to mere slits. Awareness came slowly for a moment, as the somewhat disjointed final memories fell into place. 

  
  


Bright light and pain, searing through me... A cloud of darkness being released, devouring all that was in its path, seeping into me... need to attack now, in final moments. thoughts ran through the two's minds in quick disjointed succession. They would quickly get things sorted, but as with many Hunters, reaction often comes before action.

Signas was approximately a kilometer away in the simulator section as the Metool trots. Much of this distance was solid granite, laid down by the volcano, and almost entirely consisting of a single fused piece of earth. The rest was heavily armored. Signas, and many others swore he heard the primal screams that seemed to have crawled out of the depths of time to be unleashed on Headquarters.

  
  


Sparks flew from the two's arms as the servomotors were pushed far beyond design specifications. The restraints, however, were pushed completely beyond their specifications, and gave way with a terrible screeching sound as the two ripped through the upper set of restraints, to get into a sitting up position. Nervously, several of the guards and medical staff readied their weapons, but were snarled at in response. With a quick few swipes of their claws, the metal holding their legs in place was cut to pieces. The two used their jets to move into a crouching position, as they surveyed the area nervously.

  
  


Alia and Wolf, still slightly disoriented, looked at the two in surprise. They had a pounding blank spot in their memory, but it looked like these two recalled the fight in hideous detail. They had gone to battle Sigma, the fight had started, and then everything seemed to have been blanked out. Apparently as an act of mercy. If Alia had suddenly run into the two like this on the street, she would have confidently said it was a different pair of Reploids. They lacked their usual easy-going air, and looked as if every additional breath was only due to the continued intervention of a higher power. An aura of utter desperation seemed to surround them, and even their armor seemed slightly darker than usual, Jazz's grey running more toward's black, and Bebop's medium green was quickly approaching the color of forest at twilight. 

  
  


"Weapons glitch?" Wolf asked. He had noticed it too. Dr. Light had an odd sense of humor, and partly as a psychological tool, the blueprints for the variable weapon systems built into his creations could shift the basic colors schemes of those robots to match the defeated foe that the various weapons had been taken from. Let it not be said that Light's sense of humor wasn't occasionally ghoulish

  
  


Alia shrugged. Compared to the way the two were reacting, a minor problem with coloration wasn't really a problem. "Jazz, Bebop, it's us, you're safe!" Jazz shook her head, occasionally poking the wall with a claw. Alia said, "Sigma got beaten, you won, well I think you won. Anyway, just calm down for a second." Laser Wolf nodded, and moved over to one of the medical officers and whispered urgently. Suddenly, he stopped, and punched a wall. A resounding clang rang out as the mighty warrior's knuckles hit the unyielding durasteel. "See, no ripple!" said Alia. 

  
  


The two relaxed a bit, and their systems seemed to have calmed down as their coloration stopped shifting. No one moved for a few seconds, afraid of spooking the two again. The two twitched several times, nearly sending the easily spooked medical staff running away. Finally, first Jazz, and then Bebop sat down on the bed, sighing quietly, Bebop moving over to Jazz's bed to sit by his companion. Bebop and Jazz started to speak and then looked at one another. Bebop seemed to have won whatever communication passed, as he was the one to speak, "Sorry. The last thing I know, we were losing, and I, well, we thought we were going to wake up and get infected or something."

  
  


"Well, we've been out for a week, Bebop, I think something would have happened to us before then," said Alia lightly. 

  
  


Jazz whispered, "I don't think she remembers the fight at all, or at least the end. Or else she's blocking it."

  
  


"If she's blocking it, good for her," whispered Bebop, "I don't want to remember what happened," both shuddered slightly, "Talk about painful memories."

  
  


"We'll talk later," mouthed Jazz as the medical staff moved in with scanners. Bebop said, "I guess you're right. Everything seems okay. Did we get everyone out?"

  
  


Wolf said, "Yes, apparently everyone seemed to have been cured, and has been repaired and admitted. Ajax is credited with the final blow, and assigned to the Unit. Once you two get cleared, we're supposed to be admitted to the Ninth. Lancer is at Dr. Cain's retirement party, or he would be here now." Wolf continued summarizing recent events the two had missed out on as a series of scanners traced over the two for hints of the active Maverick Virus. The two had been dosed with one of the counter-agents during their sleep, but that only worked against 'sleeper' versions. Nothing had proven fully effective against the active Virus. It always regrew, and its first step was always to convince a Reploid that the First Law was meaningless. Thus, infected robots had to be destroyed.

  
  


The two who were doing the readings looked at their scanners and grimaced. The two swapped out scanners to another pair held off to the side and quickly ran over the two again. "Lifesaver, would you come here please?" one asked over his radio. The two under the Maverickscope looked at the readings. There really weren't any. It seemed the scanner couldn't make up its mind.

  
  


"How do you get an 'inconclusive' Maverick reading?" Jazz asked in disgust, "Couldn't we get Alia to scan me. I'm fairly certain she knows enough about basic scanner technology to get an actual negative readout." The medical officer glared at her.

  
  


It took ten minutes for Lifesaver to get to the quarantine area. For those still keeping track, that puts us at approximately five minutes before Mega-clone's death. As such, many of the remaining Hunters have been distracted by the fact that Isoc was just announced head of the organization. Most of the Hunters will probably still be distracted for a few minutes as they look up Isoc in Cain Labs' employee directory. 

  
  


The medical officer reached the room to discover that Bebop and Jazz had gone to their old standby to pass large amounts of time with little to do. Lifesaver was used to this after having dealt with the cats' cabin fever for several months, but he wondered where they had gotten the frisbee from so quickly. "You know, most Reploids just go into a wait-state. You're buffing the scratches off these walls," Lifesaver ordered. The two shrugged, and tossed the frisbee back to Alia, who had made a quick run to the two's quarters, as her systems and dash thrusters made her much faster to get there than Lifesaver's primarily civilian design could get from the main medical bay to the quarantine area.

  
  


Lifesaver took the scanner irritably. It wasn't like doing a virus scan was that difficult. Except the scanner beam could reach varying levels of depth, and it looked like nanomachines within the auto-repair system were confusing the scanner. Lifesaver nodded, "Okay, you two. Warp off the super-equipment. The Virus detector can't penetrate your systems."

  
  


Bebop held up a hand and asked, "Are you going to be scanning our circuits as part of this?" Lifesaver thought about the question. Though Maverick Virus particles were the easiest thing to detect, some Reploids went Maverick because of mistreatment by humans, or circuit errors. Typically, the overly-violent behavior could be tracked by comparing the base line set for each Reploid's neural matrix to current conditions. 

  
  


It had taken a bit of careful experimentation, but it was discovered that Jazz and Bebop's original thought matrices had been overloaded with the additional control circuitry for the jet pack and their enhanced weapon systems were tied in by unsuspecting auto-repair systems during their long imprisonment. Neither Reploid had very much going on in their heads during their rebuilding period, and so the auto-repair systems had not adjusted their neural nets to handle the increased dataflow, as everything had been within parameters, and the simple auto-repair systems hadn't realized what would happen. Jazz and Bebop's personalities began to destabilize almost immediately upon activation, and as attempts at stop-gaps, the damage had been plugged in within code left over from their support units. Despite the emergency repairs, the two would have eventually had their minds randomized as their neural nets fell apart. 

  
  


Dr. Light, apparently, had done some simulations upon the end result for the two, and added in additional neural circuitry as part of their enhanced armor, stabilizing their systems, but even Dr. Light couldn't replace the lost damage, leaving them with somewhat feline mannerisms and appearance. That said, while they could remove their armor, and thereby disengage most of their weapon, flight and dash capabilities, they also had the option to warp off their enhanced systems, leaving them like the suit of armor of a knight. It was useful for maintenance and repair work, but it carried a greater price than X hanging his Force armor off to the side. Without the enhanced systems, their neural nets began to overload again. The damage for perhaps a half hour was repairable, but even a minute or two would be sufficient to show degradation patterns that would alert the scanner to possible Maverick activity. 

  
  


"Okay, now we're at an impasse," said Lifesaver dejectedly. He couldn't scan them with the armor on, but the system would almost certainly test positive for Maverick activity without Light's enhancements. Lifesaver said, "Let's try with just the armor off, shall we?" Jazz and Bebop blushed at that, and Lifesaver grimaced, "Right, we had to cut you out of those t-shirts and shorts. You know, Jazz, aren't you a little old for a Hello Kitty shirt?" Alia giggled and Jazz blushed deeper. 

  
  


After grabbing some plastic-like hospital gowns kept mainly for this situation, the two warped out of their armor, letting the teleported heavy armors remain standing off to the side as shells of their former selves. A few medical personnel quickly scanned the shells themselves, in case a sleeper set of nanos had hidden themselves on the armor's surface. But the scan came up green.

  
  


The real question was the two themselves. Wolf had never seen them without armor on, meeting them during the simulation, and was shocked at how tiny they seemed. Their boots and dash thruster assemblies added several centimeters to their height, and now the two resembled typical citizens of Japan of the 20XX years (discounting the elongated claws on each hand and their eyes), which meant they were short, probably shorter than X was, though Wolf had never seen the Blue Bomber outside his armor. Still, they were about each five and a half feet, and resembled teenagers. Wolf, despite seeing them recently perform the feat, had trouble believing the rather scrawny arms both presented to be scanned had ripped apart durasteel housings rated to 3000 N of pressure. Mind you, Wolf could perform similar feats without ripping himself to shreds, but he was almost three feet taller, equipped with much heavier armor and servos, as well as highly advanced weapon systems. A lot of this integration meant that Wolf couldn't remove his armor without the aid of a welding torch, but Wolf wore his armor with pride, knowing he was of one of the few circuit designs trusted enough to be built as a war machine, rather than be converted from an industrial design.

  
  


Still, it was a bit of disparity to see the two who had cold-bloodedly blasted their way through the simulator rolling their eyes and shifting from one foot to the other like impatient children in a moderately annoying ordeal. Alia seemed to notice that Wolf's smirk was about to crack into laughter, and whispered, "If you laugh, they're not going to be rather appreciative. They usually aren't in a hurry to get into that armor anyway, and this is more how they see themselves." Wolf nodded. The two had to remain calm to ensure the best chance of the scanner not getting a false positive, and sudden irrational jolts of irritation did little to assist that.

  
  


Lifesaver slammed the scanner a few times against the bed after it gave a few inconclusive beeps. The machine's lights went out and came back on, but the situation seemed little improved, judging by the doctor's expression. Lifesaver stared at the two in defeat and said, "You two aren't making this easy, you know? For some reason, you two are literally covered in old nano machines. It looks like the Virus crawled into your armor and died." Alia winced at the imagery, but Bebop and Jazz remained impassive. 

  
  


Lifesaver looked around, and then slammed a button on the wall near the door. One of the many counter-measures installed in the bay, a series of high powered sprinklers in the ceiling pounded everything in the room with water. Luckily, most of the equipment was built with an eye for this countermeasure. Jazz warned Lifesaver, "You know, the only reason I'm not going to file a complaint is the fact these gowns aren't fabric, and I don't want to push my luck at my next checkup." Bebop nodded in irritated agreement. 

  
  


Washed off a bit, Lifesaver scanned them again, and breathed in relief. "Well, there's no sign of active Maverick Virus nanos." The two exchanged high-fives, and several people broke out into relieved smiles. Lifesaver frowned as he examined the scanner more closely, "Don't break out the drinks yet, guys: small problem here. You're not infected, but you've got some very bizarre circuit activity that wasn't on your previous scans, near your core circuitry. I have NO idea what that is." 

  
  


Bebop and Jazz ran through some self-diagnostics, but Lifesaver interrupted them, "And I don't care what your systems report to you, you're not technically considered a reliable source right now. Sorry, guys. We're going to need someone to look at these." Lifesaver gave a nervous grin, "Get comfortable, you're probably going to have to stay for an hour or two, considering that most of the technical staff that's better than I at deciphering circuit patterns is at the party." 

  
  


Bebop grabbed Jazz's hand before she started spewing invective. Bebop said calmly, "All right. Thanks for not shooting us out of hand at least." Bebop had meant it at least partly as a joke, but both stiffened when Lifesaver didn't respond except by looking grim. Plus or minus two seconds, Rock's systems were going into auto-stasis as the Reploids realized what kind of threat was hanging over their head.

  
  


"I'll tell Signas what's up, so he can tell X all of you are reactivated. Alia, Wolf, there's some paperwork I need you to fill out so we can get your weaponry reactivated," the doctor gestured at the door, and the two teammates followed. Jazz and Bebop waved for them to go. The other medical staff seemed ready to hang around, until Lifesaver coughed at them. The others discretely left the room leaving the two around.

  
  


It only took a few seconds for Jazz to finally lose control of her temper, slamming her fist down on the bed they were on. Bebop winced at the sound; that had left a definite dent. Jazz ignored it, absolutely beside herself with impotent fury that left her trembling as energy was flushed along her circuit pathways, screaming for release. Bebop sighed, and quickly wrapped his arms around Jazz. Physical contact was enough to break down the last remnants of her control, and the amber eyed Reploid seemed to crumple, tears being shed from her eyes. 

  
  


"How can you be so calm?" Jazz demanded. There was every possibility that Lifesaver would come back into the room with a blaster pointed at them and firing. While it was likely the two could probably make an escape from Headquarters, it could mean years and years with a death warrant on their head, all because of some new circuit. It wasn't like they picked whatever the next optimization was going to be. 

  
  


"We've been through worse, really, and recently at that, remember?" Bebop said. Jazz paid closer attention to Bebop's voice and realized what was causing the inhuman calmness. Bebop had deactivated a few leads to his vocal synthesizer, leaving some of the harmonics out, and everything, no matter how Bebop wanted to say it, came out in a monotone. Jazz felt a bit of moisture on her back and then looked around to see that Bebop had been working his claws into the tough material until it had torn, letting water trickle onto Jazz's synthetic flesh. Bebop gave a nervous laugh and worked his claws loose.

  
  


"Sorry, I've been a bit of a jerk," apologized Jazz before her arms surrounded her boyfriend. She hadn't really stopped to think about what Bebop wanted or needed before going off on an angry spiel, and that was especially dangerous in this situation. "Damn Father for loading me up with emotion chips," she whispered, and she felt Bebop give a slight nervous chuckle. 

  
  


"In thy own image, I guess," whispered Bebop, though this wasn't the best place to discuss certain Germanic robot designers. Bebop asked hesitantly in a low tone, hopefully one that couldn't be picked up by any microphones, "You remember everything from the last bits of the battle?" Jazz's eyes lost their focus and she shuddered. Bebop lowered his head until it rested on top of hers, as she was leaning into him.

  
  


"I don't want to. I'll say it was unexpected though to have that turned against Sigma, but I wish I hadn't needed to be awake for the experience," Jazz finished with another sudden whisper, "You think that's the new pathway?" Jazz thought back. Sigma had jolted her with a bit of energy, since he wanted her conscious for the ultimate defeat. The darkness that had followed next... Jazz shuddered thinking about it. 

  
  


"One way to find out. As much as I hate to let go of you right now, we're going to need to warp in our armor for us to test this," Bebop said. The two let go, and shifted back into their armor. Jazz stared at the smoky grey alloys, capable of taking almost any blast, with utter disgust. It had saved her mind once, but right now it seemed that Dr. Light's gift was nothing but trouble, putting them into a situation where the Hunters may have to kill them. 

  
  


"Are we even going to be able to activate this?" Jazz asked suddenly, and loudly, "I'm not quite sure how it worked the first time." Jazz thought over the events and said, "Come to think of it, I'm more worried if we can turn it off." Bebop nodded solemnly. 

  
  


Before the two could try anything, X and Zero slammed the door open to the quarantine bay. Both of the Reploids with Death hanging over their heads stared at the cargo in the two Hunters' hands in astonishment. "Rock?" said Bebop, looking at his older brother in astonishment and terror. Jazz was amazed. She had been sure Rock was dead. Father's old enemy at last defeated, but here was a ghost from all their pasts, and it looked like something had mauled him. As far as Jazz had known, Rock was unstoppable, but had some enemy in the past finally been to much for him, cutting him open so brutally?

  
  


The two quickly set the robot, whose front was stained with soot and leaked coolant, on a bed in the area. Medical personnel crowded around, stabilizing the robot's damage to try and preserve it. The two hovered in the air, the doctors looked up once as their shadows moved across some of the overhead lights, but upon realizing who it was, decided not to comment. After all, this was a family affair.

  
  


Jazz and Bebop, confused as all get out, stared as a man, no Reploid, their sensors corrected; walked into the room, looking at Rock with paternal concern. Isoc glared at the two hovering like vultures over Mega Man. Had they no shame? Then Isoc's eyes rested upon Jazz's arm, spotting the wrist-mounted aperture that launched her missiles. 

  
  


Dr. Light hadn't mounted any of his troops with wrist-mounted weapons, and when Cain deciphered the blueprints, most Reploids had been built along similar lines. Instead, the busters, cannons, etc., were mounted within the wrist section, instead of on top of it. There was a tiny delay while it was available, and the firing arc wasn't as good, but it was better protected. Jazz had missile weaponry, however, as her primary tool of destruction, and the matter generators were built into her upper arms, leaving only the launch port exposed. If damaged, Jazz could clear it rather easily even in the field, and she had the better field of fire as a result. Still, though the techniques involved were rather simple, most Reploids were still built along 'traditional' lines.

  
  


"You're the ancients!" Isoc said with delight and surprise. He looked almost three times as old as the two put together, but their systems had been sketched out before the factory that built Isoc had been more than a twinkle in a developer's eye. The whole family is in here today, with Rock. I wonder what the Doctor would think of that? Isoc wondered. 

  
  


He kept his thoughts to himself, knowing the questions people had wouldn't be answered for a while. For now, the various Reploids held a death vigil for Mega Man, either out of assuming it was the original, or needing to know what had driven the hero berserk. Once again the quarantine bay was silent, as Reploids fought to save the original Blue Bomber's life. 

  
  
  
  


To be continued...

  
  
  
  


Author's notes: An Interlude again, and more technically one, since there was very little action. Still, sweet, sweet WAFFiness. (not a lot)

  
  


This started off as the next plot point, after Jazz and Bebop had reawakened and seen what was going on. Instead, I thought Jazz and Bebop needed some together time. They haven't had a lot of chance to actually have a relationship 'on-camera', since I skipped their first few months together, and then they were poked and prodded all the time to figure out more about Light's latest toys. So, I figured they needed to at least hug each other once. Hopefully things won't turn out so the only situations they'll be in where they can show emotional attachment are also not situations of massive emotional stress. I'm not that evil. Though, it should be noted Zero's horoscope came true ('rise up to meet challenges'). Let's hope SOMETHING good will come from this.

  
  


Other thing of note is I got to put forward my theory on why X is so rarely wearing his armor in cut scenes when he's just hanging around HQ (they can't do Virus scans through it, and it makes the Hunters twitch). Still, Light's weapons were meant originally for war, not everyday use, and of course Light set the capsules to researching without taking in the possibility of someone being able to totally analyze all their abilities as a good thing. (It seems like a reasonable security feature that Light's toys can't be analyzed. Otherwise, all the Hunters would have air-dash thrusters, hyper cannons, and Power enhancement chips). So, besides all of the nifty protective abilities, Jazz and Bebop need to keep their suits on, or they'll start using the kitty door. :) So, they're viewed with suspicion. Hopefully they can earn some credit in the other's eyes.

  
  


Let's see, what have I forgotten?

  
  


Oh, yes! Next time:

  
  


Everyone's awake! Aila and Wolf have been reinstated and should start training shortly, but Isoc probably won't be happy when he finds out what sonny-boy is doing in the same room as possible Mavericks. We'll see the results of all those directory searches to figure out exactly where Isoc came from in the first place. We'll see if Mega-clone survives, and if the Hunters can start to untangle the various plot strands. If things don't get to confusing, I'll throw in another untraceable Iris-gram to keep Zero down in the dumps. :) 


	5. Darkness and Secrets

Mega Man X 1.5 

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Author's pre-note

  
  


(wishing italics would work on fanfiction.net, may have to redo EVERYTHING I've written because I use italics for thoughts and emphasis. e-mail me if you know the HTML codes)

  
  


End Author's pre-note

  
  


Darkness and Revelations 

  
  


"Well, we've done all we can. Now we just have to hope his systems reinitialize," said Lifesaver grimly to the collection of people in the room. Bebop, Isoc, and X sighed in relief while Zero and Jazz merely looked relieved. Repairing Mega-copy had been one of the most delicate pieces of work the doctor had ever accomplished. Luckily, most of the other extremely delicate pieces of work had been preformed in the last week repairing damage from the simulator, so Lifesaver had plenty of recent practice to draw upon. Still, the condition of the group from the simulator hadn't been so critical to require twelve straight hours of work to stabilize the systems. It had taken another two days to finish everything up.

  
  


The robot looked very peaceful now, and even more greatly resembled a boy than normal for the hero, as his helmet had been removed during the operation. Most of the damage had been confined to the torso region, but X's heavy plasma shot had sent pulses of electricity through all of the robot's systems, and the auto-repair system was unable to cut the circuits out before some had been fried. Lifesaver nodded in satisfaction, you couldn't even see the seams from the repairs to the armor that had been ripped open.

  
  


Zero looked at the repaired robot in irritation. They were using good resources to repair a machine that wasn't even sentient, but had attacked them. Unfortunately, it was a complicated machine, and without Mega Man being on-line, trying to access the robot's data banks and figure out why they had been attacked would probably result in the data banks being overwritten. Isoc had intended the feature to help prevent infection from viruses or reprogramming, but now they were left with no sure way of finding out what was going on until the robot reawakened. Zero had wondered how Isoc had managed to run diagnostics on the Mega-clone's programming before he had finished, but Isoc had explained it was a last minute feature to ensure Dr. Light's prize warrior would continue fighting for humanity.

  
  


He does have a way with words, doesn't he, thought Zero in amusement. Still, no one could doubt Isoc's dedication to his creation. He had been of great assistance in the initial rush to prevent Mega-copy's fusion reactor from breaching, and hadn't stopped for a recharge cycle, even when his systems started to glitch out from lack of downtime. When his hands shook too much to do any more work, Isoc had simply remained inside the room. Still, Zero could attribute darker motives if he wanted to, as standing by the bedside of the ailing robot made great press, and prevented Isoc from facing the angry and startled Hunter press corps. 

  
  


Jazz and Bebop had remained in the quarantine bay because they weren't allowed to go out of the room, but the two had behaved themselves perfectly, quietly studying old technical journals or simply watching the medical staff do their job. The two, however, had taken the occasional break to go into stasis, and looked reasonably alert. They had decided if anyone needed information on Rock, they would be awake for it. Still, the two had started to twitch uneasily. Either people hadn't known or been unwilling to mention what happened to Rock exactly, and the two hadn't had access to news reports that told what happened in glorious detail.

  
  


Zero hadn't been able to stay in the room the whole time, since X had been watching Rock in frustration. Even a copy of his brother would have memories that X wanted so desperately to know. The cats' generally unfavorable impression of Light had come as a shock to X, as the two had spent much of their time with obedience code hard-wired into them (much of the reason behind their generally barely stable neural nets). Light's capsule and apology seemed to go a ways to healing the breach, but the two definitely offered at least a revisionist view on the great scientist.

  
  


Still, X had held the vigil for all the days, and Zero suspected only the fact X had his armor and its advanced systems on were keeping him reasonably cognizant. "Come on, hero. Rock's going to be fine. Let's get you off to a recharge bed before you blow a fuse." Zero tapped X on the back lightly, and, eyes still open, X teetered forward and fell on his face with a crash. 

  
  


Isoc, disoriented, jumped almost two meters in the air on hearing the sound. Isoc's voice wasn't as smooth as little, lack of sleep catching up to his voice synthesizer, but Isoc managed to croak out, "Great, Zero. You killed another one." Zero resisted the urge to ignite his saber. You could cook hot dogs on the glare Bebop was sending at the Crimson Hunter. 

  
  


Jazz crossed her arms and said sweetly, "So, who's idea was it to not bring up the fact that Zero swiped open a robot that was probably all confused, waking up again into this strange new world?" Jazz looked around in irritation, "Okay, what's with all the confused stares?" she snapped.

  
  


"You didn't know?" said Lifesaver in shock, "Oh, I forgot! You two don't have access to systems that are updating in the quarantine ward. Here, I'll pull the news reports." 

  
  


The wonders of modern journalism became apparent after a few minutes. There was a brilliant close-up of Rock calmly shooting plasma bursts through the crowd. Then Zero, looking like the devil incarnate, battle rage on his face, slashed through Rock's torso with his saber. At this point, things went into slow-motion on the camera, so every drop of coolant that sprayed from high-pressure lines was captured coldly and in better detail than real life itself provided, considering the scene had been over in a few seconds. Then a massive bolt of plasma came slamming into Rock's side. The massive energy inherent in the super-heated matter grounded itself into Rock's systems, causing the robot to twitch spasmodically, his face twisted and in spasms from the pain. "That was his bad, by the way," offered Zero, nudging the downed X with his foot. The cats shot quick glares before going back to watch the video in horrified fascination. Mercifully, Rock was blotted out by a cloud of darkness and the camera, energy drained as well, shut off, dissolving the picture into static.

  
  


"Why was he firing?" asked Bebop in a small voice. Zero shrugged helplessly.

  
  


"We don't know," Lifesaver said sadly, "I don't suppose there was some secret catch in Rock's blueprints you could tell us about?" The two looked confused. Lifesaver slapped his forehead, "Oh, right. Isoc over here put together a copy of Mega Man." Looking at the two's expressions, Lifesaver said kindly, "Maybe I'll stop for right now. You look like you've had enough shocks for a while."

  
  


Isoc croaked angrily, "Why were these two in here to begin with? X and Zero have stakes in this, as they destroyed poor Rock, but what's it to you?" A few medical staff were ready to take Isoc over to lie down. Evidently his memory banks weren't firing on all cylinders after being awake. Isoc suddenly shook them off and stood bolt upright, "Ah, I remember now. Mavericks, of course, since practically the day you were programmed. The back-ups for the grand scheme." Everyone stood around and looked confused at that. Isoc held out a shaking finger, "Just keep them away from him! He's perfect, and I can't dare have them contaminate my boy!" With that, Isoc ran out.

  
  


A hush filled the room, several Reploids' jaws worked silently in astonishment. Zero, however, seemed rather amused by the antics, "Security, this is Commander Zero. Someone pick up Isoc and stuff him in a recharge pod before he starts streaking or something?" Someone apparently answered, since Zero looked rather satisfied. 

  
  


Jazz seemed to have finally snapped back into her usual mode as the more bad-tempered of the pair, "Did the universe just start going wacko while I've been stuck in here? What the hell was that about?" Which was the only part of the universe that seemed to be in phase with its usual self. X unconscious, Isoc apparently reduced to a bundle of nerves, and Bebop enraged. Lifesaver, with an effort, disengaged that line of thought. Bebop, frankly, could get away with a acting a bit, well, a lot, ticked at realizing that someone had apparently blown away his long-lost brother. Of course, the realization that said brother was just a shell of the former robot, and one who went crazy to boot, seemed a good argument against Bebop getting a Maverick retest anytime soon.

  
  


Zero rubbed his forehead in exasperation, "With X sleeping the sleep of the very tired, I guess I'm in charge. Losing his mind or not, which makes us two for two on leaders, by the way; Isoc's right. Run another scan on Rock's systems, and move him to a location away from possible infection. Sorry guys, but we'd better play this one by the book."

  
  


Jazz said confidently, "Zero, trust me when I say this: no one is getting infected when we're in the area."

  
  


"Right attitude to have," applauded Zero, "but now's not the time. Lifesaver, go see to Isoc and make sure he doesn't melt down, and someone get X to a recharge pod. Get Rock out of here, I want to talk to these two." People cleared out of the small bay. Jazz stretched in delight after everyone filed out, Mega-clone being carried tenderly on a stretcher. 

  
  


Zero sat down on a bed and looked at the two, "Okay, listen: we've had time to before to wonder exactly what's going on, but I don't have the patience X does. What's up exactly with you two lately, and I want to hear everything. I'm in a very bad mood right now, because someone thinks it's funny," Zero snarled the word, "to send me pictures of my departed girlfriend. Not to mention we're almost three weeks away from the anniversary of the Fourth Uprising, and I'd hate to think what little memento I'm getting then. I haven't had time to look up where Isoc's from yet, so he's still a mystery to me, and I don't LIKE mysteries. They make me angry. Trust me, you wouldn't want to see me angry," Zero grinned ferally, "Now: I've seen enough Hunters come in to know when the last part of their memory buffer has been wiped by trauma or not, and I saw the surveillance tape of when you two woke up. You two were reacting to the battle even before you were fully awake, and DON'T tell me you were just whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears when you were coming off severe mental trauma." Zero folded his arms and glared at the two.

  
  


The two stared at each other for a minute before Jazz broke the silence, "Is anyone else going to see this?" 

  
  


Zero shrugged, and said, "That depends what you tell me. If it's 'I'm a secret spy for Sigma, and I was just waiting for everyone to fall asleep following Rock coming in and then gutting X', then I'll probably have to write a report or something. I can erase the records in here: Command gets a few small blessings. Now, go on."

  
  


Bebop sat down, figuring this would take a while, and gestured to Jazz, "You know, I feel a little uncomfortable about this. Technically, we've been keeping secrets as long as we've known each other, and that was right after we were activated," Jazz rolled her eyes as Zero stared in confusion. Bebop finished thoughtfully, "Of course, we knew what the other person was talking about anyway because we weren't idiots. You start, you knew more about Zero at the time, and most of what I know is because of our forty years in a dream-state." Jazz nodded, stretched slightly, and began.

  
  


"Okay: first thing. I may have many one tiny little falsehood, well, two tiny falsehoods when I woke up in this time period. Judging by the similarities in our schematics and origins, I'd have to say that yes, I am your sister." Zero shrugged. He had figured such a while ago. The two weren't great at subterfuge. Jazz continued, "I'm almost certain of that because of certain things my creator let slip, though he didn't seem for me to know that I was a test bed for the new free-will circuitry. But, my creator wasn't always that together, and I managed to piece together that a high-level, extremely complex, Reploid unfettered by the bonds that have nearly destroyed my mind on multiple occasions," Jazz's voice started to rise in pitch as she worked herself up, and Bebop grabbed Jazz's hand. Reassured by the contact, she continued on in a more level tone, "But this miracle of technology and design was known as Zero, and built by the infamous Dr. Wiley, my father," Jazz finished in a whisper.

  
  


Zero was expecting several things, from Jazz claiming a lab accident with Light right up to being the product of aliens. "Well, that explains why you didn't want to say anything," said Zero lamely.

  
  


"For both your sakes," said Bebop seriously, "Wily wasn't one to put the First Law into effect, and Jazz was designed as a war machine, her mind slaved to that of Wily's. From what I've gathered through our time together, Wily was becoming more and more unstable, and Jazz's orders to protect him meant working around other orders. If Wily had realized that his creation had gained true free-will, she'd have been destroyed," Bebop's voice was tinged with sadness, "And even know, how would people take knowing you were built by one of the greatest evil madmen in history? I've seen how trusting people are." Zero nodded, and cursed in his head. He owed these two his life for merely having existed, and much of that had been based on falsehood. For now, he couldn't even repay them.

  
  


Bebop said, "So, you know already about Light and how I felt. Things got weird during Wily's last Robot Rebellion, which was totally unexpected by either of us. We were attacked by the latest Robot, named something like Earth Man, if I remember right?" Jazz nodded, and Bebop continued, remembered pain echoing in his voice, "He wasn't acting fully aware of his surroundings, and we did a simultaneous data scan on him to figure out what was going on. That was our first mistake."

  
  


Bebop flexed his fingers, as if in pain, "What was inside was an extremely nasty, extremely potent virus designed to shift all your circuit's priority into battle, and treat everything that got in your way as an enemy. Luckily, it came from a seriously inferior processor, so we could beat it back down, but it still did some damage. If it had gotten a good hold on our systems, the Virus probably would have been a lot nastier, since our systems would have done our best to improve the Virus. As it was, we received a lot of reports of other Robot Masters acting the same way, but luckily, they couldn't advance the Virus like we could have, or another Reploid could have."

  
  


Jazz finished, "Right up to modifying our auto-repair systems to deliver the Virus via nanomachines. Sound familiar?" Jazz asked bitterly, "We think a little bit of it got stuck in our systems, since both of us slipped into battle with a little more ease, and we managed to defeat opponents that all rationality said we didn't have a chance against, and we greatly improved while it seemed that Rhythm and Staff were guiding our actions." 

  
  


Zero frowned, "Wait, assuming what I think you're talking about is accurate, you two got hit by the original version? But how did it get into the Robot Master's systems? They were plenty advanced for the day, nothing should have broken down all their defenses if the Virus wasn't self-aware yet, unless..." Zero looked at the two thoughtfully. They were obviously uncomfortable admitting where their animal instincts came from. Still, Zero knew they had tested clean upon arrival, and helped clear out Mavericks. If they had been controlled by the Virus, the Mavericks would have welcomed the two cats as new members in the big Infected family.

  
  


The two shrugged helplessly, "We don't know," Jazz added softly, "But I do remember how you were supposed to be an invincible warrior," Zero preened, but the two didn't even laugh, and Jazz said, "Something really, well, weird happened in the simulator. Sigma DID try to infect all four of us, but what happened wasn't what he expected.

  
  


*********************

  
  


Bebop was firing desperately as Wolf stopped slashing at the walls to block the invincible juggernaut bearing down at them. Alia had collapsed, her leg thrusters blown out completely, and Bebop was concentrating more on dodging than firing. We're going to lose, he thought grimly. The cat wasn't sure what would happen after that. Suddenly, Sigma's tactics changed, and a warm beam of energy shined down upon Jazz. Auto-repair systems boosted slightly, Jazz gasped as she was force to consciousness, but unable to move.

  
  


"Farewell, Hunters," roared the beast from both heads, "It is time for you to realize the true destiny of all Reploids!" The simulator systems had matter synthesis capabilities, to create actual bolts and missiles to hit the warriors who braved the environments. They were usually weaker. The corrupted simulator, however, could easily produce Virus particles, and did so. The cloud of black mind-death engulfed them all.

  
  


Jazz, immobile and helpless, her body barely responding to her frantic commands, knew pain as she could feel the nanos engulf every bit of her structure. But, even though she could feel like tiny mites attaching to every circuit, she couldn't feel anything transferring from the horde. She ran a self-diagnostic, and was shocked at the response.

  
  


"Additional material confirmed: activating standby systems. Core programs initializing new repair units," Jazz screamed as the complacent worm at the center of her being gnawed out slightly again. Everything went fuzzy in her vision for a moment, and she could feel the world shifting into black and whites, enemies and allies. She looked down in surprise (as she could move easily) as her armor had also shifted. She was covered in blacks, with only the dark brown highlighting remaining. New power flowed through her systems, but warnings flashed as well. The Virus itself had found its pathways blocked and already occupied, and the tables had been turned. But the additional particles came at a price: her fusion plant couldn't operate at a level to support the stronger armor and weaponry for long, and she would soon return to stasis. I can do this though, Jazz thought frantically, and went. She saw one of her allies convulsing as the Virus infected her, and though a part of Jazz realized there would be hell to pay from the damage inflicted upon her battered systems by even moving, most of her didn't care right now. Reaching Alia, Jazz reached a hand out, and simply took the Virus in. 

  
  


The Virus was a part of Jazz, though most of the dangerous parts had been stripped away or subverted into protocols that protected the Reploid, you couldn't simply double-infect her. That gave her a modicum of control, but the additional nanos tying themselves into her power systems were too much of a strain, and Jazz's fusion went into low-powered stasis mode before she could blow her jury-rigged repairs.

  
  


Bebop had started hissing once his armor started to change to black from its usual color scheme, and it had taken a moment for him to regain enough control over his emotions to do anything. Sigma stared in shock at the transformation, and Bebop had been ready to fight while the monster was still discouraged over its weapon failing, until he felt a short, transmitted distress signal from Jazz as she fell unconscious again. Bebop could feel his control reasserting itself as the transformation was complete, but also a warning message from his internal systems. He had maybe there minutes before he went into stasis because of the increased drain, and he needed every second.

  
  


The Virus, without the nanomachines or an artificial intelligence guiding it, was simply a static program. Sigma had upgraded the Virus after he had eventually fallen prey to it, making it far easier to infect others. The nanomachines fooled the system into accepting the Virus as rightful, good programming, subverting the first line of defense, and Sigma's mind kept the Virus mutating faster than internal defenses could keep up. If the nanomachines were eliminated in time, before the affected Reploid's communication systems fell to it, then the Virus could be halted. 

  
  


Bebop had the Core program to the virus almost as much as Sigma did, and quickly yelled at the Virus to come over. Wolf collapsed, exhausted and his circuits strained and damaged by the close brush. Bebop felt no additional power from the extra virus particles, but they did increase the drain. There's no time to take Sigma down, but he's hurt friends/mate Bebop thought, Staff's old programming rising to the surface as it was tied a bit to the Virus. Noticing the still rather ice-bound form of Ajax, Bebop adjusted his lasers slightly and opened up. Systems enhanced beyond their specifications, dodging the blows Sigma tried (though rather half-heartedly. He was mainly Virus, and the control exhibited made Sigma wonder if he saw the main version of himself in front of him) was child's play. Bebop ran against the clock, cleaning the rest of the ice off and running Ajax's temperature levels up to standard operating levels. Bebop collapsed, however, energy exhausted by flying and firing his weapons AND trying to power auto-repair systems with far too many parts for his fusion plant to handle. Bebop collapsed, going into stasis mode, the Maverick virus particles dying off in droves. Then all was blackness.

  
  


*****************

Zero looked at the two, as Bebop finished, "Mind you, we're pieced a lot of our reactions together and theorized some stuff as well to fill in the gaps. At the time, we weren't thinking as much as reacting." 

  
  


Zero's head froze in mid-nod. He was like that a lot himself, caught up in battle rage in the middle of a fight. If I do have a 'declawed' version of the Virus, my systems can't pick it up, since my data patterns aren't being channeled along new paths, and my mind remains pretty much my own. Zero groaned. It explained a lot about him, and why Sigma claimed Zero could take him down with a mere pipe. Still, no one would actually agree to having a modified, harmless Virus installed, since it obviously had affected their systems to a degree, setting them more war-like, though as defenders of humanity, not its destroyers. For that matter, it's not like they could get someone to come around and analyze the source code of the Virus in Headquarters. Most of the researchers were along the lines of see Maverick program, delete Reploid's mind that has the Virus.

  
  


Zero's voice trembled slightly, "When X wakes up, I'm going to tell him what's going on. I owe him that much. Next, we're too busy here, because we need to see if you guys really recovered or not. I'm going to ask around and see if the Hunters knew anything in their previous lives that would help. A lot of people here are prototypes or one-of-a-kind projects, and their designers may have the kind of talents we need."

  
  


Zero stood towards the door, "You two be calm for a few days. I need to think, and after you guys get cleared, we're going to go survey the area where I was picked up. Jazz, if I had been stuck in a capsule ready for activation when Wily died, then you know the layout of that fortress. It's possible there are designer notes for the Virus or something." Zero turned and looked at them, "I won't lie. Frankly, we may all be retired for this, but if we could find the original Virus, I think it would be worth it. The Hunters may not be around much longer, and if we can stop the Mavericks now, we'll at least have fulfilled our mission. You two have a good evening," Zero said. The locks on the door clunked as the two were sealed in once again.

  
  


Jazz and Bebop stared at each other. Things were on a precipice. Depending on how things tilted, the next few days might just see the end of the Mavericks, or the Hunters themselves.

  
  


To be continued...

  
  


Author's notes:

  
  


Well, since Jazz and Bebop share a lot of design similarities now days, they have the reaction of both Hunters to the Virus from X5. Their energy is exhausted, but they're also on the near side of invincible in progress.

  
  


I also figured it was time for their older brothers to figure out what's going on, and since Jazz and Bebop may face a firing squad already, they might as well reveal any information that could be helpful. 

  
  


Now, while remember while Zero would hold his word and delete the records, there's some electronic sprite running around that's made a mockery of at least the Hunter's e-mail programs... just thought I'd mention...

  
  


Still, I just got all my characters on their feet, and now X is asleep, Mega-clone's in a coma, I'm guessing Alia and Wolf are training, and Isoc's losing his mind. 

  
  


Next time: It's time to dig out some old dirt in the family tree, but some other people aren't interested in some secrets being uncovered. 


	6. Searching the Depths

Mega Man X 1.5

  
  


Searching the Deeps

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Disclaimer: Capcom owns pretty much everything in here in its original form, and the work is intended purely for enjoyment, so please don't sue.

  
  


X awoke from within his recharge pod, and made the mistake of trying to move. Pain shot down his back, as he had been holding a similar position for several days, and the intricate web of servos didn't take well to have sudden stress placed on them, and they made their displeasure known quickly.

  
  


As X rubbed his stiff back in annoyance, he finally opened his eyes to at least another round of activity. X wasn't quite aware of how much time had passed while holding a vigil. However, it was obvious that his next active duty period wasn't going to be very pleasant, as Zero stood over his recharge pod with a data card in one hand and an angry expression on his face.

  
  


"Welcome back to the living, X. We've got trouble," Zero quickly gave a run down on everything that had been told by the cats, finishing with, "And this data card has the whole conversation, so you can track it. I also pulled the data from the simulation files that we've managed to recover, though most of it's damaged, to verify what had been said. It checks out so far, but there's something you need to see. Is this computer sealed against outside intrusions?" 

  
  


X nodded, reminding himself to grab some food later. Younger siblings being at the possible heart of a future Maverick outbreak definitely came first. Zero slammed the data card into the slot, "Computer, bring up program Iris-1. Okay X, on your left will be what we have of the simulator footage. The right are my activities on Final Weapon while you were facing Double." X was curious. What does Iris have to do with what's going on, the Strategic Commander wondered.

  
  


When he saw what Zero was aiming at, X bit off a curse word before it could leave his mouth. What Jazz and Bebop had not been aware of at the time was visible even through the blank spots and static on the video image. Both were clearly covered with purple flame-like energy that seemed to almost burn away their usual colors. The same colors that were within the powerful crystal Iris had brought as her weapon against Zero. 

  
  


"Does anyone else know about this, for that matter, did we ever figure out what that thing was?" X asked, "I know that we haven't tried to touch on the events too much, and we know it probably contained something similar to the Colonel's core program, but this is just weird."

  
  


Zero sighed and sat down. He had been operating without sleep for almost eighteen hours now, and could really stand to go through a couple hours in stasis. Zero said, "I told Signas I was following up a possible leader to the Virus's current location. For the other question... no we don't. Iris wasn't technically part of Repliforce's military staff, and most of their civilian Reploids died with the station. I asked around, and all we know is that Iris apparently had it since her activation, but no one knows what it is. Since I saw this, I tried to access Iris and Colonel's blueprint information, but it's classified to the point that only the Director of Cain Labs can access it."

  
  


"Which is Isoc," X said grimly, "And we still don't know what's going on with him and that copy. All right, Zero, we've been getting a lot of recruits lately, but I want you to start bringing the command staff in on this. We really need to start doing research on the two we have before we can figure out what's going on, but that means we need to get them cleared, and that'll take a majority of the Unit Commanders, and we have eighteen Units on active duty. Have we made any progress on the analysis-" X cut off. A beeping from the computer caused the two to look back at the monitor. The computer was reporting that its security was broken and all files were being downloaded. Zero quickly tried to snatch the card from the reader slot while X started running a tracer, but the card refused to be expelled for several heart-pounding seconds until the screen suddenly reset as the computer rebooted itself. Zero stumbled backwards as the reader's grip on the card was relinquished. 

  
  


"What on Earth was that?" Zero asked. He looked grim. As commander, X's private files should have been almost untouchable. Well, technically, so are mine, and I should be able to trace anything coming to my computer, Zero reminded himself. 

  
  


"We definitely have a serious official problem going on. Zero, go get the commanders, and don't use the communication links at all if you can help it, and warn them to TELL, not message, the Hunters to avoid using the computer until we can figure this out. I'll try and see if I can get anything out of the machine," X ordered.

  
  


Zero started to dash out, but paused by the door, "Actually, we may have found someone. One of Alia's tutors in computer programming. He was a designer on the same team that built Alia, and he's supposed to be hot stuff. I ran a search for him in our data banks, and he's on our 'watch' list because he's busy creating Reploid designs with super-advanced programming, on the idea that a truly sentient creature capable of growth shouldn't be able to have its data patterns easily analyzed. Right now, he's working free-lance, but we should be able to get him in for a consultation." 

  
  


"Give me his name and I'll do it myself," X said, "I'm not sure we can trust any of our computer records right now, and I'm not sure about our engineers either. Someone just blatantly said they have access to our entire network."

  
  


"Right. I've been getting some bizarre e-mails," Zero shook himself, "I'll tell you later. Right now, get the Unit Commanders in on what's going on before someone starts putting your diary up on the Net," Zero ran out the door.

  
  


"Zero! Name!" reminded X as he stood up. 

  
  


Zero slapped his forehead, "Sorry. His name's Gate. I think he's living in Asia right now." X nodded and Zero ran off through the maze of Hunter Headquarters.

  
  


"I don't keep a diary," muttered X as he stomped off in the opposite direction. He would contact Gate from the outside, as the original sentient machine figured that a random phone was less likely to be tapped than his personnel quarters at this point. If this guy's any good, we'll put him on our security issues next, thought X, he can't do any worse. 

  
  


Far away from the brightly lit corridors of Maverick Hunter Headquarters, a meeting was taking place in an area so secure, it made the deepest hole of the Hunter's dome look like open air in comparison. The meeting was taking place by remote link, but the three meeting together today would bet their lives on their electronic security, as the meeting was taking place over special land lines laid in secret. In fact, several of the people's lives in the room would be forfeit if the Hunters even knew of the possibility of such a meeting. Still, the figure within the fortress remained cloaked, as he firmly believed no measure was sufficient security. Still, the rewards for this meeting were worth even the risks in his paranoid mind.

  
  


The three all saw the same things on the screen, the video snatched from X's private quarters of the simulator, as Iris powered up on the right side of the split screen. "The Ancients are now all aware of the existence of that great power," said a heavily modulated voice, with a slight trace of an accent, probably somewhere in Europe, "and may very well uncover what our plans have been with Cain Labs." 

  
  


"It does not matter," said the second voice (the group was not willing to risk having their faces go out), "they cannot come forward with this data to the public. Repliforce has already been castigated, and connecting them would lead to the cats' death. For that matter, I have been careful enough to keep the Hunters unaware of what the Labs do, besides the trickles of new equipment heading their way. With Cain removed, the Hunters and Cain Labs lose their umbrella overseer, and so the Hunters have no reason to poke around. They can't move right now or make wild accusations, the public hates them enough. Besides, they remain unaware of our true goal" 

  
  


"Agreed. How do go our plans involving our favored Reploid?" asked the figure in the room. He smiled beneath the cloak. Neither of the two had questioned where he had acquired the images of Iris, but accepted them at face value. HIS trump card remained as the final torment, if necessary.

  
  


"Hunter computer security is riddled," said the second voice with satisfaction, "Unfortunately, our automatic programs tipped our hand, as information on Iris is copied from anywhere in Headquarters. Zero using her name as a password made the Hunters aware of at least some of our efforts. A positive effect of this is the continued paranoia on X and Zero, which can only serve to further weaken the Hunter's position." 

  
  


"Fool! First your failure with Rock, and now this. Not even the dumbest Hunter will fail to see something is up! If they could backtrack you, all our plans are in peril!" hissed the first voice who had spoken.

  
  


"Nonsense!" said the figure in the room calmly, "Everything is under our complete control. In this heavily computerized age, any attempt by Hunter engineers to unravel our control can be detected the moment it begins, and their efforts thwarted. For that matter, we control most of their engineers, as they come from Cain Labs." 

"True, however it bothers me that most of their support staff has yet to run around," said the second voice, "When may I begin the plans to fold the rest of the non-military Hunter staff into my own control and authority?" 

  
  


"Not for quite a while, as your effort to move ahead and show your control resulted in a massive public relations failure! Cain Labs is looked poorly upon for bringing a false copy of Mega Man back to life, and if you move to quickly now, the Labs will be associated with the Hunters when time comes for the final blow!" raved the first voice.

  
  


"Yes. Time is most definitely on our side. My forces continue to grow and move into position, and my research on our target at Headquarters continues to bear fruit. The longer we wait, the more destabilized the Hunters will become in eyes of the public. For now, I suggest we simply continue with current plans. Besides, I doubt that certain individuals involved in this conversation can retain their unknown whereabouts for much longer without raising suspicion. I move we adjourn for now and return next week for another update." The two voices raised murmurs of accent and the communication was cut.

  
  


The cloaked figure remained for a few seconds, before snorting, "I don't know which of the two are more a fool. One attempting to be the master of forces far beyond their control, the other blinded by madness, and a hairbreadth from true power. Idiots, the two of them. Still, one has to admit that even I had been unaware of exactly what Cain Labs had been working on. Hypocrites, stomping out individual research that could lead to greatness, while working on far more dangerous toys themselves." The cloaked figure walked away from his communication room and into the corridors of his fortress. With a thought, the area he was passing through would bristle with death traps. Though the cloaked figure doubted it would be for a while. He stopped before a door, and opened it, addressing the figure within.

  
  


"Still, if it hadn't been for that portion of myself left behind in their computers, my little alliance would have never gotten off the ground, right my dear?" A Reploid, girl-type, dressed in pinks and blues, with long brown hair struggled futilely. The bonds holding her in place were several magnitudes in strength stronger than those the Hunters employed in their quarantine bay. Though this room served a similar purpose, though its intention was to keep as much of the Virus away from the subject as possible.

  
  


Iris looked with burning anger at the figure who had destroyed her life, her family, and her love. "Sigma, still playing reaper I see?" Iris was not the same person she had been before the station, Sigma reflected, but death did that to a person, as he knew all too well. 

  
  


"If you're trying to enrage me, it won't work. I have far better control over the Virus than your foolish lover ever did, or the others. You will not be infected, my dear, and that wonderfully delightful battle armor of yours will not be lost. Still, just as I prod and push Zero, your mind will be lost to madness of its own creation, and then you two will be the perfect complimentary pair: utterly ruthless killers, destroying any who gets in your path."

  
  


Iris shook her head, "Sigma, you're so wrong about me." So much had happened before because she had lacked the strength of will to risk hurting her brother or her boyfriend. Sigma had managed to get her control chip evacuated by Double before that wonderful servant lost his life trying to delay X stopping the station from firing upon the planet. Now, with a second chance at life, Iris vowed she wouldn't sit idly by, instead trying to change things actively for the better, rather than passive support.

  
  


Lot of good those sentiments do me now, thought Iris in dismay. Her track record wasn't doing much better, trapped here. Still, she knew how important it was to retain her wits. Before, she had sat by until the loss of so much of her world, and then in her fury, she had done something so terrible to her soulmate, that even months later, it brought tears to her eyes, forcing Zero to kill her. 

  
  


Sigma noticed the wetness at the corner's of the former spotter's eyes, and said gleefully, "Oh, Iris, I know more about you than you do yourself, much like my advantage over Zero. I know you were the first portion of the attempt at the perfect soldier, not Colonel, and I know exactly why that project failed initially, and how you led inadvertently to its success. You will be mine, and through you, I'll grab Zero. Besides, my dear, the more you struggle, the easier it will be to snap your mind in the end. Have a good day," Sigma laughed as he left the room, making sure to seal it against the Virus that was his true form and pervaded so much of the base. Iris's mental patterns had to go haywire of her own accord to activate Cain Lab's little secret add-on in her systems. And things, so far, were shaping up nicely.

  
  


Back in sunnier areas, Zero had gathered all the Unit Commanders together with X, and the Crimson Hunter and Commander quickly explained all they believed going on, and their plan to counteract it. It was a tribute to their record and reputation that what they were saying didn't get them shot out of hand. That, and these Reploids had all been around for awhile, and were sick of the killing. They had months now to meet people from Repliforce, and were dismayed to find they were honorable and good to a hilt, but the Hunters had killed so many of them. 

"X, need I say if we go with this plan, we could get all killed out of hands, and that would be the end of humanity," said Lancer. X nodded grimly. If the public learned the Hunters were actively going to start going after the Virus, rather than infected Mavericks, there was a chance that people would assume the Hunters had been infected. If the Hunters were to be wiped out, no one could stop the next inevitable Uprising from taking out all humans. 

  
  


X said, "I know we're going to be taking risks, but we do that every time we go out and face Mavericks anyway. If we could stop Sigma once and for all, it would be the end of a lot of our problems. Unfortunately, we can't do anything for a couple of days, since we'll need guidance on our part if we want a successful infiltration. Bring in as many people as you can trust on this, we'll need the help."

  
  


All the Commanders saluted and wandered off. Zero murmured, "Do you think this will work?" X shrugged helplessly. The plan put together was rather complex. Various Cain Lab installations all over the world would be receiving Hunter guests in the next few days as clues were combed for. Right now, the Hunters were working on putting the base's integrity back together. The plan was going to be forwarded to Isoc as a way to get the Hunters out more into the community. 

  
  


This was all cover. X and Zero would shortly be making a trip to the final Skull Fortress in an attempt to find the original Virus code. Possession of such, in Reploid eyes, was equivalent to having several small nuclear bombs attached to your person, with all the timers ticking down. If the Hunters could analyze the source code, there was a chance they could develop either a counter-virus, or at least a vaccine that would reduce the Virus's effects to that on Jazz or Bebop's level. 

  
  


It was possible it wouldn't work, and with nothing to show for it, the knowledge getting out that the Hunters had been after the Virus to work on its code would probably mean the retirement of all high-ranking Hunters. Even if it did, with the Hunter's reputation, there was little that could be done to help the public for several years, but maybe the Hunters themselves could be vaccinated. Baby steps, thought X to himself with amusement.

  
  


Zero yawned, a reflex programmed into him for when he needed some downtime for his systems, and blinked. "Okay, I've been up to long, X. I'm going to need my sleep if this is going to work. I'll see you tomorrow, as you'll still be up. No one's touched the paperwork on your desk for three days." X mock-groaned as Zero headed off to bed.

  
  


When Zero got into his room, he froze. His terminal was blinking that it had received a message. Zero wasn't exactly sure of any message received right now. Especially since most e-mail was sent to his office, and then forwarded to his private terminal if he desired. Cautiously, Zero tapped the on-button. 

  
  


Lines of text scrolled up the screen, "Greetings Zero. I see you've been a very good day at following my messages. Well, I thought you'd like to know that if you're very careful, you might be able to see Iris in a few days. In the meantime, here's a little clue to help you out on your little endeavor: Isoc started Mega Man before Cain Labs hired him. I know you've been busy, but checking on Mr. Isoc's past associates would be very beneficial. Signed, a friend." 

  
  


The message flashed twice on the screen and vanished. Now I'm just confused, thought Zero, how bad is our security anyway? 

  
  


To be continued.

  
  


Author's Notes:

I'm starting to think the Maverick Hunter root password was 'password', judging by the number of people digging through their systems.

  
  


Sigma's back, but he's content to wait, as the Hunter's aren't very popular. I'll go into more detail on that theme next time.

  
  


Iris is back, and evidently Cain Labs was up to some dirty work when they slapped her together.

  
  


I like Star Chambers, they're such a cool toy for shadow cabals to have. Of course, Star Chambers are more Star Chat Rooms in the Information Age. 

  
  


I thought Iris could use a little character development, and she deserved to actually show up after about FIVE chapters of references. She's not quite the same person she was, and I just hope Zero will recognize her when Sigma's through. Mind you, that battle armor's unmistakable.

  
  


Oh yeah, Gate's back, but he's near the start of his career, pre-embitterment. Probably some minor spoilers about the creation of some of the Investigators from X6 in the next few chapters. 

  
  


And, as usual:

  
  


Next time:

  
  


Battle lines are starting to be drawn as our heroes split up, some by land and some by cyberspace. Attempts are needed to make sure of the darkness lurking at various heart's really is passive, but will any Reploid take the risks involved? Boxed in at every turn, the Hunters' are running out of time before they're the ones being 'retired'.


	7. A Breath of Hope

Mega Man X 1.5

  
  


A Breath of Hope, a Torrent of Despair

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Disclaimer: Noun, the art of a fanfiction writer covering their butt in regards to copyrighted material by acknowledging they own none of it. 

  
  


Oh, wait: Capcom owns MMX, which is the primary source for all characters, settings, and evil computer viruses in this story. 

  
  


"Squad 1, cover the entrances! Squad 2 is moving in for a paratroop drop onto the roof of the fortress!" Zero barked out orders to the Reploids surrounding him in the dry, bitterly cold air of the desert in the evening. In front of them was an apparent dusty mountain with several caves. If one knew where to look, one could just make out the shape of a skull over the primary entrance. This was Dr. Wily's final skull fortress, built into the Piedmont sections of Maryland. Following the shifts in the climates after the Third World War in the early twenty-first century, several portions of the highlands above the waterfall line had become desert due to much of the topsoil becoming radioactive due to fallout from the high orbital nuclear strikes that had wiped out much of the former satellite infrastructure. Robots, then Reploids, had become the driving force behind the world economy due to the difficulty of accessing various mineral reserves, as well as a dwindling on-world population as more people moved to the Space Colonies. 

  
  


Dr. Wily had built this fortress in preparation for a strike to take on Dr. Light while he was doing some work in New York City. Though the radiation was long gone, the land had become barren as the topsoil blew away without vegetation to anchor it. People didn't come by the area much, as it was considered almost cursed. Even Mavericks rarely visited the area, since this was the sector where the famed Crimson Hunter had been found by Sigma, injured by the Maverick Virus and with a wiped memory. What should have become history's greatest enemy became one of its strongest defenders.

  
  


"Let's hope we can be two for two on that then," muttered Zero to himself. Jazz and Bebop were undergoing comprehensive testing back at Headquarters. Gate had proven quite able, and had forced Laser Wolf into making a move on Alia because of the former Repliforce soldier's fear that Gate was trying to rekindle an old relationship. He was, but simply as a friend.

  
  


"Still, when someone brings the new Reploid the World Council had commissioned, and said that much of the body design work had been done based on someone you're interested in's blueprints, I'd be jealous too," reflected Zero. Commander Yammark had been a great vindication to Gate, as his theories indicated that a truly free-willed Reploid was one whose data patterns had grown complex enough, either through time or design, to be unanalyzable by being able to understand what software was running at any one moment.

  
  


The Council had forbid Gate from carrying out his work for several years, for fear that the Reploid would turn Maverick immediately, since one couldn't be certain that the Prime Law would be impressed during the basic knowledge dump progress when a Reploid was brought on line. However, the Amazon region's weather control systems had proven too complex for most preprogrammed Reploids to handle. They had initiative, but it was low-level. It took high-level thought patterns to manage the designs, and finally the Council had broken down and let Gate build his dragonfly.

  
  


For that matter, Zero knew another reason for fear. A strong-willed Reploid, regardless of design, had a great deal more power than an equivalent Reploid who had just recently been programmed, so much of his behavior was still predetermined. Zero had Reploids in his ranks that could devastate city blocks with their firepower, but he could beat all of them with a simple Buster and his Z-saber. X beat Sigma partly due to his rage at Sigma's attacking innocents, despite Sigma having massive battle bodies on tap. Jazz and Bebop had defeated some of the most modern equipment with their bare claws and some ancient firepower. Iris ... "Don't think about that, Zero, focus on the mission," the long-haired Reploid ordered himself.

  
  


The mission was straightforward on paper. Find the original core program to the Virus, which may very well in the fortress, and take it back for analysis. Of course, no one knew what sort of nasty deathtraps were still functioning inside the doctor's last hideout, or even where the viral chip was. So, the plan was to haul everything that wasn't nailed down (and if it could be ripped up, it wasn't nailed down) back to Headquarters to be looked at, and scan everything else. 

  
  


A simple, normal information gathering mission. Any Unit could have probably handled it, but what they needed were speed and stealth. The fewer traps that were activated meant a better chance at the data not being accidently destroyed. While elements of several other Units were in the area forming a security cordon, or preparing to engage outer defenses, only Unit 0 was there in its entirety. Most units had a terrain speciality, but even urban warfare types wouldn't do well in the fortress, though the terrain would look familiar, since they were usually chosen for sharpshooting capability to quickly attract Maverick's attention and lead them to safer locations for retirement. There were a few Units with combat specialty, but most of those were heavy combat slugging Units. The 17th, X's Unit, couldn't be picked, as they were too high profile. When people thought of Hunters, they usually thought of the 17th, Elite, capable in most terrains, and had a high dedication to reducing casualties. The 'ninja' Unit 0 was the choice for the mission, despite their small size, as they could be trusted to keep their mouths shut and do their job without anyone finding out about it.

  
  


That was the real kicker. Wily could have left enough Rock Monsters behind to stomp through Tokyo, and it would be less dangerous to the Hunters. Any word that the Hunters were after the core Virus to analyze it wouldn't go over well with the public. Any response to Viral activity except to delete it was viewed as suspicious. The Hunters had dropped five more points in the last opinion poll, leading to a fifteen percent approval rating. They were in enough danger of retirement, in EVERY modern sense of the word, without bringing to light attempts to bring the actual Maverick Virus into Headquarters. Various elements of the Units had been brought in, but Unit 0 was a group that would fight to destroy the Virus, chosen by Zero specifically, even if it meant their own lives or occupation. There were some Hunters who were convinced that even mentioning the Virus could make you catch it, and others who believed that the Virus could only be met with opposing hatred. Those Hunters had been carefully farmed out on goodwill missions to various Cain Lab facilities as a 'quick-response force'. Since they were the most vocal in opposition to the Mavericks, and many of the Labs were in isolated areas away from humanity, no one had trouble with the Hunters diverting their forces to around the globe and near-space.

  
  


Zero shook himself, as his Hunters were in position. Zero took the forefront, double-checked his precious saber, and waved the group's forward. Half the Unit would attack from the top of the fortress, cutting their way into the center ring, while the other half would work their way inward, hopefully meeting in the Control structures. Jazz had supplied a map, but that was the Fortress in 'rest' mode, and the configuration had probably shifted to a maze judging by the other contingencies the paranoid Wily had put into place.

  
  


The cave, however, was still open. Zero narrowed his eyes as he examined it as the Unit approached the ground-level access points from separate directions, using all available cover. Zero was very familiar with various damage types, and it looked like there had been a gate over the cave that had been literally kicked open from the inside. Zero's innards twisted for a moment. He hadn't visited this place since he had been found, throwing himself into training of himself or others, but he felt the dim impressions of memories, like a half-remembered dream. Remembered emotions like loneliness and confusion, as well as a fierce pride in stewardship. But a few of the memories, a little sharper, were of a great deal of pain as his mind was driven from him in red fire until all went black. The first moment of clarity was waking up with Dr. Cain examining him, before joining the Hunters. Zero cried out once, before slapping his hands to his mouth, ignoring the glares of his Unit at breaking the silence. His head had started to pound, a dull throbbing that was getting louder. Zero ran a diagnostic, but nothing came back.

  
  


Zero thought back to what Jazz had said about what happened to her after Wily's death, with an order that came to wipe away all thought and destroy the doctor's enemies. I've had dreams like that starting right before the Fourth Uprising! Zero thought in shock, he made a gesture to his subordinate. 'Am compromised, returning to base.' The Unit's eyes widened in shock, but they made no move of opposition. These were warriors. Zero quickly teleported back to Headquarters.

  
  


X was waiting in the war room with Signas as the orange bolt came through the ceiling. As soon as Zero's particles had reformed, he began to curse, "I am such a moron!" Zero said at length, "X! There's some sort of transponder activated on location!" Zero explained what had happened, and then continued, "The headache's just now starting to fade, and I'm on the other side of the planet! Who knows what would have happened if I had gone inside?"

  
  


Signas shook his head sadly, "So I guess it your origins have been confirmed. I was rather hoping that Jazz had been confused on that point."

  
  


X said seriously, "If there is some sort of transponder, it's managed to signal you despite a rebuild, and a memory wipe. That's a heck of a job on your systems, Zero. If Wily could hide a program ordering you against others for forty years, the Maverick Virus would be child's play in comparison."

  
  


"Let's hope that the Core Virus program is the worse they find, then," Signas offered. The other two nodded grimly. 

  
  


A call came through on the war room. The engineers had spent several days lying new lines in between secure sectors of Headquarters, and the quarantine bay was on the new network, making the call as safe as talking face to face. The triumphant expression on Gate's face filled the holo screen when Signas activated it. In the background, Yammark was speaking to the two cats and Lifesaver. Gate nodded respectfully to the Hunter leaders, and said, "Hi Zero! Did you find the Vi-program already?" Zero groaned. Gate had been brought in on the plan as a necessity as the Hunters needed to figure out why the Virus wasn't driving Jazz or Bebop Maverick. But, like many scientists, Gate believed operational security was washing the dust off yourself before entering a clean room. X quickly explained what happened.

  
  


Gate nodded grimly, and said, "That matches what I found, or rather didn't find. The standard analysis programs, obviously didn't work, and my more advanced routines didn't get anywhere without knowing their emotional grids." 

  
  


X breathed in sharply. Gate was talking really getting down into the programming structures, to the point that a wrong move with a data probe could lobotomize a Reploid. Zero, however, smiled, "Those two really want out of there, huh?" asked the Hunter.

  
  


Gate grinned, "I really can't blame them. There is a couple of problems. Wily was paranoid as all get out, evidently. Jazz gave me her access codes to start scanning her operational files, but the encryption codes kept changing whenever I tried to look at basic behavioral patterns!" Gate shook his head and continued, "Light must have been even worse, though. Since a major threat seemed to activate the 'midnight'," Gate stressed the code word for the black armor heavily and Zero groaned again, slamming his head against a map table, "program, I tried looking through Bebop's basic threat response routines, an anti-intrusion routine launched a virus. I barely saved my computer!" 

  
  


X clarified, "They were war designs in a violent era. Light built me to go into a future to help people, but even all my combat equipment can't be analyzed yet. When you consider the fact that those two may have been captured and someone attempting to reverse engineer them, it makes sense, especially since Light had lost plans to me to Wily. Neither wanted a repeat performance." 

  
  


"Agreed," said Gate, "But between the two of them, I think I managed to get enough data to start determining which programs were under active control or not. And the data's still inconclusive, I'm afraid. I've found something that MIGHT be a defanged version of the Virus, but that was by taking DNA Soul chip readings, wiping out everything related to that, overlaying both, and doing millisecond to millisecond comparisons of a twelve-hour period. The pattern looks similar to Virus readings, but considering how little of their circuitry is actually accessible to scanning with all the blocks put in place, it could also be a basic maintenance program. I think I'd actually have to build a copy of one of them before I could say for certain what the pattern is."

  
  


X finished, "And because they've got more black boxes than a fleet of space liners, there's no way you could finish their designs because so much of their circuitry is proprietary to them only." Gate nodded and slumped.

  
  


Zero sighed, "Great, so we're basically stuck until we can get the program back here?" Gate nodded.

  
  


"If we actually had their blueprints, or even old data pattern analysis it would help, but it looks like that would either be in Wily's fortress, or burned up in the volcanic eruption. The only way for sure to figure out what's going on is to get them to activate the midnight program, but if they do that in here with my equipment, they'll ring more alarms than X has gotten armor components." The three leaders nodded.

  
  


"Thanks for the update Gate. If we find anything out from the fortress, you'll be the first to know." The communication cut off, and the three leaders went back to discussing events.

  
  


The scene was being watched from Sigma's fortress. The first voice from last time spoke, "We managed to get this link into their war room at great risk. There's a good chance it will be found out in the next counter-intelligence sweep, and Number Three's agent disabled." 

  
  


The second voice, Number Three, said back, "Yet we know where they are, and what they're after! If they were to bring the chip into contact with Zero..." 

  
  


Sigma nodded, "Agreed, One and Three, we will lose all chance at controlling him. We know for certain that I had the Virus chip removed from the Doctor's fortress when I first encountered our prized little Reploid, foolishly infected when he ran a diagnostic on the fortress's computer." Zero had spent many years simply upkeeping the fortress, until the need to replace a bad hard drive had led to him connecting himself temporarily to the computer, and running into a version of the Virus. Zero was designed to compliment the Virus, but the version held by the computer had been damaged and led to the Reploid's memory degrading until he assaulted any who came into the area before finally collapsing. Sigma had found him, and inadvertently been infected, before heeding the call and absorbing the Core Program from the chip Wily had left in the main control room. Still, both the image of Zero as a maid to Wily, and the remembrance of the look on Zero's face, tortured by losing his beloved Iris, hearing of the far more believable tale of a grand battle in between an infected Zero and Sigma, made Sigma chuckle. The truth that Sigma had ripped his own arm off to try and stop the infection before clawing his face in his madness was a bit more ... unclean to say the least. But Sigma had come to terms with the Virus, and come to an agreement, evolving the Virus into a program that gave Sigma domination over the lesser Reploids infected with it, as well as giving them Sigma's disdain of humanity, though the Virus's amplification of negative emotions turned it into a sweet raging hatred.

  
  


Speaking of thus, Sigma turned to the viewer, "I will send an agent into the fortress. It will increase the Hunters' desperation if they believe they had only recently lost their chance to recover the chip, rather than recent information. Not to mention the increased paranoia at another security leak will keep them distracted for a few more precious moments." 

  
  


Three hissed, "You speak of destroying my agent! Rock has yet to awaken, and he has been under constant surveillance by HUNTER medics, not Cain Labs, so I don't know his exact condition. What he says upon awakening could throw all our plans out of balance."

  
  


"So destroy him," proposed One. 

  
  


Three yelled, "One, Two, you may think destruction is the end to all things, but there is no one in position who could do such! Give the Hunters a chance to throw blame for recent events on Cain Labs, and they will! Many in their ranks are from Repliforce, and despise Cain Labs for issuing the initial warning. We will LOSE our trump card!"

  
  


Sigma laughed, "What trump card? The second half of our weapon is still beyond our access. Only Isoc can reach those records, and he isn't even aware of their existence. When the weapon was first activated, it was too weak to be able to do anything. Only the Crimson One brought the true power forth." Not all of that was true, thought Sigma, but they didn't need to know that.

  
  


One said in an impatient tone, "Enough! If needed, we will arrange something to discredit Isoc, which may at leave give enough confusion for our agents to move. We'll have the warrior and the fighter, and then we can divide the world up as we please. We will meet later."

  
  


"Agreed," said Sigma, before closing the connection, and bringing up a list of Maverick Generals. He'd been carefully putting together his forces for quite a while, since the Doppler event, and when the next TRUE Maverick Uprising began (rather than a manipulation or a quick strike), the forces arrayed, battle tested and toughened would prove a bit of a surprise to the Hunters. 

  
  


"Let's see. A teleport signal SHOULD reach the command center of the fortress with the defenses off. The Hunters are merely moving with that delightful caution I've worked so hard to drill into them. I need something strong enough to convince the Hunters, without enough strength to make them wonder why a Maverick would hang around a dusty fortress when humans are fifty miles away and easy for killing. Ah! Nova Skunk! Foolhardy, reasonably powerful, with a glass jaw, but disciplined or terrified. One of those two, could never tell which," mused the leader of Mavericks. Nova was no General, but he would be sufficient. 

  
  


Sigma pressed the buttons, contacting the Maverick, who appeared on screen and immediately saluted. Ah, absolute power. "Nova, I have a mission for you. How would you like to be transferred through who knows what kind of defenses to face near certain death from a group of Hunters? I do have the access codes to the defenses, but some would get close to you?"

  
  


Nova Skunk was, naturally, a giant skunk, but painted orange with a red stripe down his back. "Lord Sigma, I would be glad for the chance to destroy some Hunters!" the herbivore-based Reploid drooled at the chance for some bloodshed. Sigma quickly transmitted the codes, and the Maverick dissolved into a set of sparks around two energy beams, headed for the wilds of North America. 

  
  


Sigma shut off the view screen. "Now to check on my other project..." Iris was coming along nicely. Her body was untouched, but electrodes connected to a Reploid are just as painful, and less damaging. Possibly more painful, since neurons can eventually become over saturated with particles and refuse to transmit electrical signals. Reploids don't have that option. Iris had started to summon her crystal several times before she caught herself. "I'll soon have my perfect destroyers, and then the humans will fall like wheat to a beam scythe: instantly with a lot of extraneous damage." Sigma indulged in quiet laughter for a moment, relishing how well everything was working.

  
  


Nova Skunk dropped with a crash into the control room. The room was well sealed with passive armor against earlier teleport systems, but technology had passed the old defenses by. Nova cackled with glee. The old fusion reactor was still working, and Nova quickly hit a set of switches, bringing up the anti-teleport shields, and trapping Unit 0 in the fortress. Working quickly, he brought the rest of the fortress to full power, activating the ancient guardians. The fortress shifted its innards. Once-bright passages went out, spike traps were revealed as floor panels moved back, cannons emerged from the walls, and groups of drones were deployed from hidden alcoves. Only the most paranoid, trigger-happy Reploid could have retained total battle alertness in the peaceful fifteen minutes of cautiously moving through the hallways. And since Unit 0 wasn't a group of Mavericks, there numbers were cut by a quarter by the sudden assault as they were caught in a sudden crossfire. 

  
  


Hearing the frantic distress signals, the rest of the Hunter's main body began to move in from their defensive screen, but Wily's Skull Fortress's defenses were optimized against large numbers of enemies and armies. After all, the world had fought against the mad scientist. The Hunters were far more capable than any army had been in Wily's day, but they were also much smaller, as they had perhaps half of their total strength, the rest fulfilling other commitments or untrustworthy.

  
  


The quiet air of the war room was disturbed by Zero's sudden scream of pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his head. Mother Computer at the same time displayed the Hunters' predicament in a dispassionate green text, "New energy source detected at target coordinates. Heavy weapons fire detected. Unit 0 pinned down, and rest of Strike Group Shadow under heavy bombardment. Maverick Virus signals have been detected. Recommend immediate deployment of more Hunters." The war room turned verdant as lists of retired and injured Hunters began to be displayed. 

  
  


X reached down to help Zero up, but Zero reached out blindly with a fist, driving his friend back. Signas put this together with the earlier conversation, "Computer, analyze energy source! Utilize all available resources!" 

  
  


"Working," replied the computer, but before it could get anywhere, Gate's face appeared on the screen. 

  
  


"We've got major trouble down here! Something just happened, and I think we're about five seconds away from having the Council see Mavericks in HQ!" Gate was frantic, and turned. Jazz was lying on the floor convulsing. Bebop had his hands over his ears as he bent protectively over her. Jazz's armor was starting to darken, the emergency mode triggered by her stress. Gate peered back into the pickup, "Hey, what's wrong with Zero?" 

  
  


X's mind worked frantically. Jazz's systems were starting to generate Maverick Virus nanos, which meant everyone in that room, plus all the research, was in great danger. "I think it's the same thing happening to them. Wily's fortress went on-line just a second ago. Is Bebop still all right?"

  
  


Bebop nodded, and said in a slightly louder tone than usual, as if his ears are ringing, "Jazz is transmitting what she's going through on our shortwave frequency. If she's in this much pain with her armor mode, she's going to tear herself apart with the convulsions!"

  
  


X said quickly, "Gate, do you know a reasonably safe place we could teleport them?"

  
  


Gate nodded, "Yammark's future control center in South America. No one's in it yet, but construction's complete, and it's equipped with reasonably heavy EM shielding because of all the storms." 

  
  


X snapped, "Bebop! We don't know if the Virus generated by your emergency systems is infectious or not, but we know it looks like the regular Virus on our scanners. Get the coordinates from Yammark and teleport yourself and Jazz out of here! We know you're immune, but everyone in the room might not be, and Jazz needs someone to keep those seizures from killing her! Lifesaver, get up here, Zero looks like he's going to into full-blown convulsions in a minute!" The two nodded, Bebop picking up Jazz and teleporting out right before the last few traces of color left her armor. Lifesaver started to trot up. 

  
  


"Signas, make sure Zero doesn't hurt himself or the war room until Lifesaver gets here. Then alert every Hunter we can. Security isn't an issue, since if the Mavericks are there, Sigma realized what we're after and has probably already destroyed it," X ordered.

  
  


The uniformed-looking Maverick knelt and held down Zero's arms, as he was starting to thrash wildly. If his movements had been coordinated at all, the Crimson Hunter would have probably tossed Signas through a view screen. "Where are you going to be?" asked the training commander in a strained tone.

  
  


X summoned his Force Armor in a flash of brilliant light, and extra energy crackled off X, grounding into the floor, "My older brother was the last person to crack a Skull Fortress, and I intend to follow through on that tradition. Sigma's obviously worried, as he hasn't moved so blatantly since the first Anti-Virus was developed. I can get through better than the reserve Hunters can, and there's still a chance we can get what we're looking for, and with Zero out of the way, I'm our best chance to find it!" With that, X teleported out in a blaze of cerulean energy, off to his destiny of struggle again.

  
  


To be continued

  
  


Been a while since we've had some action, so I thought it's time to bring it up. Rock is still asleep. Isoc's doing SOMETHING, probably trying to get the Hunters a few popularity points. Hmm, maybe the Doctor Isoc referenced was Light, since the Star Cabal has been referring to him by name, and they're usually more careful than that. 

  
  


The Hunters still have far too many unknowns in there path, but with Mega Man X at the ready, it's time to start breaking down a few of them. Of course, the Hunters are not necessarily moving as the forces opposed to them want to (X does have that effect), and the secret at the heart of the Hunters could be ripped open if there enemies are willing to risk a little exposure, and with Sigma deploying Mavericks and nearly having his (yet-not-understood) weapon almost ready, that could very well be. 

  
  


Isn't Sigma evil? You know, I get the feeling that being Maverick was an even worse proposition when he was on the good guy's side, and Sigma feels he's still pulling the Hunter's strings.

  
  


Oh! Right! I'm rather pleased with the fact I think I have my continuity about established and stable. I looked at X.5 again recently, and noted I had switched the names of Bebop and Jazz and their support units for a scene. Talk about embarrassing...

  
  


And finally....

  
  


Next time: (it's going to be a big one, folks!)

  
  


Many thread lines and strategies weave. But the Hunters are sick and tired of being pushed around, and it's time to start dictating the terms, rather than reacting.

  
  


The hopes of producing a Vaccine are ever-fleeting, and most of the Hunter's strength is being assaulted by heavy energy artillery. But X is on the case, and it's time to remind Sigma and his cohorts why he's the greatest hero of all. 

  
  


Back at home, Signas begins digging through the mire of conspiracy that is Cain Labs, and finds a secret that could mean the end of long-cherished beliefs by the Hunters.

  
  


His name is Rock. He was once the most advanced robot in the world, and it's greatest hero. Now, he hides a secret that may reveal the Hunters true target. Can Isoc convince the Hunters to protect the defenseless Blue Bomber when Three begins the final phase of his campaign with only one goal in mind: The utter elimination of the one defense humanity has against the Mavericks.

  
  


Zero, hardened warrior showed softness for only his nearest and dearest friends, before Sigma put him against his love. Can Zero find Iris before Sigma can turn them against each other again?

  
  



	8. Mavericks, Mavericks everywhere!

Mega Man X 1.5

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


'In case you missed the last SEVEN disclaimers' Disclaimer (in this story alone...) Capcom owns Megaman, not I. 

  
  


Maverick! Maverick Fire Burning Bright, in the Fortress of the Night

  
  


(Author's Note: I couldn't resist, it was too tempting to use that title)

  
  


Bebop lowered his head for a moment, feeling defeated. Whatever command Jazz was under was far more powerful and more insidious than the one used on her thirty years ago. That one would have merely put a shell program in the place of her personality, turning her into a sophisticated drone, a shell of what she was. That plan merely temporarily suppressed her personality, and could be broken through by a strong will.

  
  


This was far crueller. In many ways, it was worse than the Maverick Virus. The Maverick Virus boosted your emotions, your hatred most of all, and made you easily controllable. You instinctively recognized the container for Sigma, the Master Virus, and bowed before him. However, the Reploid who once lived was dead forever. Jazz would, with this, remain to a large extent, but her will subverted to serve another, but some part would remain aware and helpless. 

  
  


Bebop had run a scan on his love when he got her to the highly sophisticated systems of the Amazon Control Center. It would be a pain to clean everything off afterwards, because Jazz had activated the Shadow Armor program, increasing her defense, speed, strength, and firepower, but at the cost of a slow drain on active energy. It also had an advantage of tapping into Jazz's old battle programming, laid down by Dr. Wily. Normally those chips were off-line, since activating them would have bound them as slaves to whoever held the control codes. Bebop had a similar set.

  
  


But the Shadow Armor program had at its core the Maverick Virus, or rather, a greatly weakened version of it, twisted and transformed, and integrated with their systems, and the Virus laughed at attempts to be controlled. Normally, it made them act slightly felinoid due to the instincts of their support animals, which were tied into a similar location in their neural nets. However, it also dropped their need for self-preservation low enough to tap their auto-repair systems at a rate greater than the fusion plant could resupply energy. If left on long enough, they would collapse into stasis from exhaustion. 

  
  


Jazz had the program on for almost fifteen minutes now, as she sent powerful commands that were trying to drive her berserk into combat programming, fooling the commands. Jazz's attention was focused inward, and she was having seizures as her brain battled itself to try and retain control. Bebop had found most of the standby energy containers he could, as the place was well-stocked, but eventually he would have to activate the generators to save her life by offering that power stream, and someone would almost certainly notice if a major power source appeared where none should be, and then they would be found, and as long as either of them had a Shadow Armor program in effect, they would register as Maverick on scanners. "X, Zero, someone shut off the transmitter. Please hurry up, if Jazz falls asleep, she won't be able to resist," he whispered. Bebop knelt by her in the darkened control room, trying to sooth his other half as she continued to spasm, being torn apart from the inside by her Father's final gift.

  
  


Zero wasn't doing much better. He was strapped down to a medical table, teeth gritting with exhaustion. Zero's mind's hardware was a bit more complex, and he was losing himself at a slower rate. Lifesaver looked at him in desperation. His best efforts to stop the transmitter's effect were failing. Gate was still frantically looking for programming, or a firewall that could slow the progress, while Yammark buzzed nervously in the background. 

  
  


"Douglas! I said we needed Cain Labs doctors over here! We don't have enough trained programmers on our own to handle this!" Signas yelled at the screen to the mechanic on the other side.

  
  


The green-armored technical wizard, and one of Isoc's right-hand Reploids, held his hands up placatingly. "Giving Hunters the ability to teleport to almost anywhere on the planet is bad enough right now, do you think that doctors are allowed to have it? They're moving in by helicopter. What's the problem? Everyone going Maverick or something?"

  
  


Signas glared daggers even through the screen, "Don't even joke about that. Signas out."

  
  


Isoc ran into the doorway, quickly assembling a tool kit. "It's happening, just like the Doctor feared it would. I picked up the transmission. Make sure no one messes with Rock while I'm gone, will you? He should be waking up shortly!" 

  
  


Douglas said, "I'll need the command codes to the mainframe if you're going to be gone for any length of time."

  
  


"Why?" asked Isoc, "The communication systems are on-line, right? Unless you're going to need to look at X's schematics or the old Repliforce data for some reason, I can't see why you need to browse my private files, and somehow you don't seem the type who would be interested in pawing his way through old pictures of dead Reploids." 

  
  


Douglas flushed and crossed his arms, "I am NOT into dead people." Isoc laughed, and waved it off

  
  


"I was teasing. You should lighten up Douglas. Cain Labs is safe from attack, since the Hunters are busy tracking down a Maverick fortress. You don't want to be all depressed when the casualties start rolling in," Cain finished grimly, heading off to get a helicopter over to HQ. 

  
  


Douglas shook his head and whispered, "You old fool. You're sitting on a power that could change the world, and you refuse to even look at it, instead ordering us to help build your silly toy." Douglas turned back to the monitoring station, continuing to poke his way through the Maverick communication system. Douglas's comrades, One and Two, might have their occasional bug into the computer net, but only Douglas had true, unlimited access to the Hunter's surveillance systems, which the fools still thought was safe, as it used a different system than the internal computers or communication. Isoc hadn't guarded those secrets well enough, but they were trifling beside what Douglas sought.

  
  


X, meanwhile, had arrived at Skull Fortress, Mk. Last several minutes ago, and quickly dove for cover as heavy artillery cannons and lasers expended their energy against the innocent, and quickly pulverized, ground. "Well, at least we're speeding up reclamation work to get this area forested again," muttered X.

  
  


"Hi X! Glad you could join us!" said Alia, almost cheerfully considering the circumstances. Wolf and Alia were pinned down by the same large boulder, though it was getting eaten away steadily. They had come from being on patrol duty, but anyone trying to get to the fortress would get blasted away before they got close. Ride Armors were being called in, but they couldn't teleport, so it would take half an hour. 

  
  


"Love to chat, but how close can those cannons get to the Fortress?" X asked hastily. There wasn't time to even explain.

  
  


"Perhaps sixty meters before the artillery is no longer usable, but that leaves approximately thirty meters without any cover whatsoever," Laser Wolf barked. He was definitely in his element. X nodded, and started crawling to the end of the steadily melting boulder. "Sir, are you crazy?"

  
  


X shook his head, "I've got some advantages you guys don't have. I'm just glad I've got three full sub-tanks and a weapon tank ready. This is going to HURT!" X ran out from behind the rock, watching the various gun barrels prepare to expel hot photon doom at the Hunter. When the cannons had about locked on, X quickly jumped into the air and triggered his Nova Strike. 

The Nova Strike generator locked into his armor by Dr. Light's fourth set of upgrade capsules took a long time to charge, and did so by absorbing some of the energy from hits as well as excess energy X absorbed from other sources, like being hit by plasma weaponry. Once fully charged, the Nova Strike triggered a blanket of plasma around X, shooting him forward at great speeds, as an air dash, but besides a longer air dash, the plasma shell protected X from any attacks made during the short while it was activated, besides the fact that anything X rammed while it was on would suffer major plasma burns. 

  
  


X could cover about twenty-five meters before the generator's capacitors gave out and had to be recharged, more with a tail wind. That got him through the initial barrage of fire intact, as the guns ionized the air around him. Most of the Hunters stared in awe at the sight. X rarely ever cut loose except when he was going solo through dangerous fortresses, and usually didn't even wear his armor modifications in training. Now, most of the Hunters got to witness the awesome display of death's avatar burned a trail through the air.

X hit the ground running as the Nova Strike generator petered out and began its recharge cycle. X's unexpected move to go THROUGH the enemy fire had thrown off the automated targeting systems, and it was a moment before the guns began tracking the Hunter, chewing their way through the ground. X continued to run forward, not looking back. He had gotten a good look at where the beams were when they were in front of him, anyway. His plan would push him to the edge of his abilities, but he felt fairly confident he could pull this off. 

  
  


As the blasting destruction behind him got louder and louder as the cannons swivelled in on the father of Reploids, X held his path, and fired a Soul Body. When shrapnel began to ring off his body armor, X jumped to the right, heading through only a portion of the nimbus of energy behind him as it was distracted by the double. X gritted his teeth as his shields and armor were blasted upon by the energy beams, and quickly drained a sub tank as soon as he was through the torrent. Back near to full health, X jumped in the air as the energy beams turned to towards him once again in all their awful malevolence. But X had his own fury to bring to the meeting, and triggered his recharged Nova Strike. The excess energy that had gotten past the first layer of defenses had been partially channeled into X's capacitors. It was an added defensive measure and a weapon at the same time, and X was using it at the fullest effect.

  
  


X breached the energy column easily as golden fire met red and black energy beams, passing through them like a Buster through butter. That is to say with a lot of collateral damage and making a mess of things. However, the ground was already far too shredded for any additional splash damage to make an effect. The strike died out around X and he started running. He seriously doubted that he would have an easy a time with it this time if the defenses weren't on an automated mode, but with eighty percent of the defenses on this side attempting to strike one fast-moving white-and-blue armored Hunter, the other Hunters were also wiping out guns and sensors on this side as fast as their weapons could cycle. Though X was almost half way through the kill zone, the odds were staying about steady as the weaker close-range weapons that could be brought to bear couldn't match the long-range weapons that were being knocked out.

  
  


Pain, and recharge, pain and recharge. X soon ran out of subtanks, but he had perhaps thirty meters left to go to reach the primary gate, blown open long ago by the Hunters when Zero was found, and one nova strike ready, but he needed to push it a few more meters to make it inside to relative 'safety'. X looked up ahead of him, and cursed.

  
  


He had apparently made a fatal mistake. Several small cannons had emerged from the rock around the cave entrance, and X couldn't activate his Nova Strike when his defensive systems were ramped up to deal with impacts, which meant that if the guns hit, he would be swallowed by the energy column approaching behind him. The Soul Body would simply stand in front of him, so he would still be targeted. If he swerved, he would hit the side of the mountain and who knows what sort of defense could be resting in the apparently innocent looking rock? X shut his eyes, and prayed the guns wouldn't activate in time. Suddenly, a series of blue-tinted lasers and a yellow burst of electricity shot past X to smash the small, unarmored cannons to scrap.

  
  


"We've been watching your back, X! Kick butt until the ride armors get here and we can join you!" said Alia over a radio link. X smiled and nodded, though he knew she couldn't see him. Well, she might, with her remote sensor pods. X willed the Nova Strike to life one more time, arrowing through the gate and into the complex.

  
  


"No Nova Strike, no sub-tanks but for my weapons left, and I'll barely need that with my helmet system," noted X as he quickly shot the few small cannons near the entrance with a gaping dark hole beckoning further into the structure. "Looks like it's back to the basics. Rock could beat these, even if he nearly died, without Capsules; and it's time to set a new speed record for storming a Skull Fortress." X checked his buster to make sure it was working properly and started jogging further into Wily's final resting place. There were Hunters pinned down who needed to be saved.

  
  


Signas looked at the computer screens in frustration. There were security leaks all over the place, and no one knew how far they went. Zero was slowly tearing himself to pieces on the inside. The two trump cards they had for beating the Virus were hiding out in the Amazon, and nothing had been heard from them since they teleported down, and most of the Hunters were fighting one of the most fiendish war machines ever devised.

  
  


Now, Signas was doing something he had been working on in his precious spare time the last few days. He was carefully running security checks from the top down on Cain Labs. The Hunters had been running background checks on their own members as part of the general precautions after Double showing up in their ranks as well as the screening of Repliforce members. No one had dealt with Cain Labs.

  
  


The first person, naturally had been Isoc, and Signas soon found out why the Hunters had little data on him. Isoc was a relatively recently built Reploid, and had originally been intended for archeological work, and evidently interned with Dr. Cain for a while, picking up some interest in robotics at the same time. A year or so ago, Isoc met with Cain again after being on digs for several years of cities that had been devastated either during the Third World War or the Robot Rebellions. Isoc had been hired to oversee the project about bringing back some of the Robot Masters as a gateway to learning more about how the intelligence routines of Reploid functioned shortly before the Repliforce incident. People knew they worked, but not HOW. 

  
  


"Which would be why Zero and Jazz can have little booby-traps hidden away inside of them," muttered Signas. Improvements on the design were difficult. Gate, in an interesting turn about, had partnered with Cain Labs before the Repliforce incident for a short time as well, and he was one of the foremost experts on Reploid Intelligence circuitry. In fact, his work was too cutting edge, and people feared what would be unleashed. Isoc had continued to work for Cain Labs through the Fourth Uprising, and was evidently a highly competent administrator. That was probably why the Hunters knew little about him. The Hunters were typically more interested in the newest plasma buster and the people who designed it directly rather than a Reploid who promoted team work. 

  
  


Still, Signas made a mental note to ask Gate or Isoc the next time he saw them what they had worked on. "What was it that the two were working on that made Gate shut himself away in seclusion for so long?" 

  
  


"I'll tell you myself if you want," offered Isoc, who was standing in the doorway to the war room. Signas spun around in shock. Isoc chuckled and said, "I'm glad you're taking the time to check Cain Labs. I've been busy the last few days keeping the lid on your security leaks, and haven't been able to perform any personnel checks myself, and most of the other high-ranking Reploids have been there longer than I have, and I don't know them well enough to know what THEY'RE hiding. You know how paranoid scientists get about their discoveries." 

  
  


Signas nodded. Dr. Light's advanced weaponry, despite the advantage the Hunters would obtain from having it, defied all attempts at reproduction. Signas asked, "Now what was this mysterious project that would call the Finder of Reploids, the foremost expert on Reploid neural circuitry, and an archeologist whose next project was to build a copy of Mega Man?"

  
  


Isoc shrugged and said, "Not much. But first, you noticed how quickly Gate was able to decipher how the Shadow Armor system worked on the two of them?" Signas nodded, it had been fast for something that had been completely unknown recently, Isoc continued, "That's because Gate had previous experience with Reploid willpower expanding the shell's power beyond theoretical limits. Did you notice that the project was put together shortly before the Repliforce incident. Which major figures in the Uprising joined Repliforce during that time?" 

  
  


Signas said, "Um, I know the Colonel and Iris met Zero and were activated only a few months before... oh Creator. Dr. Cain built both of them?" Signas paused, "Wait, so you know about Iris's weird battle armor, right?"

  
  


Isoc agreed, "My portion of the project was related to information found upon further research of Dr. Light's lab. The plan was conceived in secret, and most of the results will hopefully never see the light of day. The most important ramification did, though, and many Hunters knew them well. We were trying to recreate X, a warrior who would fight only to defend as a leader for Repliforce, but we were unable to integrate the personality properly. The pacifist, caring program was developed first, and is the basic personality set, but Iris kept rejecting the war-like portions. Colonel was developed to at least create a team with the same effects. Unlike Colonel, however, Iris had the capability as a nurturer and a destroyer still built in, but it wasn't until she nearly lost her mind from grief and rage that she accessed the battle programs." 

  
  


Isoc continued sadly, "That is what brought poor Gate's career off track. Iris, which by all public accounts was simply a sweet and caring Reploid turning into a berserk monster with no hint of the Virus made the World Council fear higher-level Reploids. Gate was unable to proceed with his research for a time. Commander Yammark, however, is a testimonial to the success of the basic design plans. Iris carried the system too far in the extreme, but Yammark's systems are reliable, and considering the dragonfly's stage of development, he shows far more initiative than any other modern Reploid. When he's fully trained he'll be a great force."

  
  


Isoc said, "Now here's why I need your help. We have people fighting to save Zero, but there's something only I and Dr. Cain know about Rock. He contains several chips found among the debris and notes of Dr. Thomas Light. In fact, Rock himself is about forty-five percent of the original Mega Man, found among the remains. The chips are locked by a password, but they contain information that was written AFTER X was placed in his capsule." Signas startled and looked at Isoc, who nodded in confirmation, "That's right. According to the notes, these particular chips contain information never found before, and may very well have the basic blueprints for Jazz and Bebop. I bring forth the information now as it will greatly help you, as we cannot keep this hidden for much longer."

  
  


Signas cheered, "That's great! If Gate had that information, he could crack the Virus a lot easier if he knew exactly what to look for and what not to! So let's get the chips!"

  
  


Isoc looked embarrassed, "Unfortunately, the chips will only work if placed into the circuit boards of a Light era robot such as Rock, and even then, we need to know the password. Even then, Rock is unaware of it himself. The only clue was 'something the family can recite on cue'. So it's some minor tidbit of information, and I didn't want to reveal the existence publicly because of the danger of it falling into the wrong hands, as well as the fact that Rock attacked for some reason. I believe I've traced it down to a fault in his battle detection programs. He took Zero's words for a true threat and overreacted."

  
  


Signas asked concernedly, "Have you figured out who did it? For that matter, can you fix it? It'll be difficult to try passwords when we could get attacked."

  
  


Isoc nodded, "I have managed to repair the system, I believe, but the changes to Rocks' personality matrix as a result are what's keeping him asleep. There isn't much time left, however. The problem is that if Rock wakes up, I'll need to get there quickly to determine if the programming is intact and ensure Rock is dropped back to sleep if it hasn't. Otherwise, he and his data may be destroyed by someone who says the wrong thing to Rock. I can't watch Rock and keep the lid on your little scheme here." 

  
  


Signas thought for a moment and agreed, "As acting Commander of the Maverick Hunters, what's left of them in the base, I'll get Gate to check Rock's programming when he wakes up. You keep running interference. I assume you've been working on our security records?"

  
  


Isoc nodded, "The Council takes copies at the end of each month, but I have some of the best computer programmers anywhere in the solar system. The replacements to the communication system have made the job easier, but I don't think I can keep it up for much longer." Signas and Isoc quickly shook hands.

  
  


Sigma watched the little scene on a view screen. Three had sent this little tidbit to him, and his colleagues were taking frantic steps to counter the new information. He didn't get angry, though that was with effort. Anger would allow the Virus to take control, and Sigma desperately needed to be clear-headed right now. The Hunters had regrouped faster than Sigma had thought possible considering the number of Units involved, and X, as depressingly usual, was quickly tearing his way through the fortress, and would soon be AHEAD of the Hunters who had been sent into the castle originally. Still, he could perhaps utilize this slightly, but it would mean that he would have to leave himself. There weren't any Lieutenants he trusted right now, with Vile and Double chopped to scrap. Sigma dropped his cloak off and walked into the room nearby.

  
  


"Greetings my dear. Today's your lucky day, as you and your lover will be reunited." Iris didn't reply to Sigma's statement, instead merely hanging limply from her restraints, her eyes blank. Sigma hadn't QUITE managed to break her. Evidently there were a few Repliforce techniques she had managed to draw upon to increase willpower. Still, that Repliforce training made her vulnerable to those in positions of higher authority, and Iris would obey his orders, but she would do so mechanically, and she still wouldn't SUMMON THE WHOLE REASON FOR BRINGING HER BACK!!! Sigma took a deep breath, realizing he was about to hit her, and quickly stepped back. "Come dear, we should get you washed up. You'll have to look your best for Zero." Iris didn't reply, standing stiffly at attention when Sigma released the restraints with a mental command.

  
  


X continued through the fortress, helping Hunters take out various chokepoints, and ordering them to spread out and cover alternate directions before running ahead, in an attempt to cut as much power to the outer defenses as possible. He was doing quite well, actually, and had managed to recharge a sub-tank and was half-way on his Nova Strike, having to use the super attack again to clear out some heavy cannon. It had been a while since the last Uprising, and X wasn't quite as up on training as he should be, due to the amounts of paperwork recently, but it was coming back quite well. Plus, all the enemy's in Wily's fortress were simple drones, not Reploids, and it was easier to dismantle them.

  
  


X saw a VERY large group of Hunters, probably a squad's worth, standing near a gateway and clutching burn marks and dents on their body in pain. X noted Ajax, the felinoid model who had helped in that battle against the simulator, seemed to be leading the group. Ajax saluted and reported, "Sir! there's a large guardian on the other side of this door, and we're waiting for Eagle armors before heading further, for caution reasons." 

  
  


X shook his head, "I don't have that option Ajax," the Reploid blushed on realization the commander recognized him, "Something in this fortress has your Unit Commander in serious pain, and it's slowly killing him. Stay here and wait for backup. If I'm not back in a half an hour, start tearing this place apart." Ajax nodded and X checked his weapon set from the Fourth Uprising. All weapons ready, Helmet weapons energy converter standing by, sub tank prepped, and air dash/hover boots reading full charge. X ran at the gateway, having a full Plasma Shot ready.

  
  


X wasn't quite sure where the guardian was, seeing only some rocks. Then they came together. X looked up and up. "Oh, damn," X said mildly. Wily had put the latest version of that feared and dangerous creation, the Rock Monster, in his fortress. Though this particular Devil was painted more black than most to fit the local coloration. X mainly knew about them from horror stories about the ones that Bebop and Jazz had trained against back in the old days. X dashed and climbed the wall of where the monster was holding, and it paused, surprised. Evidently Rock hadn't come equipped with wall grippers, and this Devil was running off those battle files. 

  
  


"Let's see, Jazz said only the eye is vulnerable unless you want to try and blast your way through solid granite. Actually, with the Plasma Shot, that might be an option," noted X. Another problem was his lack of a real electric beam weapon. The Lightning Web had its moments, and would make it easier to stay at eye-height, but it didn't have the range. Well, the charged one did. X shot a massive gob of lightning web out, which spread out and attached itself to all corners of the room. Lightning ran down the webs for a moment. Rock Monster roared and broke free, and X noted his eye was slightly singed. "Standard cannon it is then." X groaned. This could take a while, even if the monster was an idiot, and Zero didn't have the time. X revised the monster's opinion upward to dangerous idiot when it broke itself into pieces and started trying to ram him with the chunks. Hover boots were helping A LOT, but X was soaking up damage. 

  
  


Sigma contacted Nova Skunk. "My general," lied Sigma, "I need you to deactivate your communication system when we are done speaking for perhaps an hour, and your teleport screens for maybe ten minutes. We have a chance to acquire both components of the weapon system, and unfortunately we'll need Zero's mind intact. I believe my compatriots are preparing to act foolishly in their search. I need Zero active and attempting to come through the base."

  
  


Nova Skunk frowned, "Lord Sigma, how can you be sure Zero will arrive? He's been injured badly mentally, and that means that Zero won't be anywhere near fighting strength."

  
  


Sigma smiled thinly, "We've been tearing at his mind. Zero will not appreciate that, and with Zero's temper, he will be sure to make his displeasure known. I'm transmitting you something I want to put into your communication system right before you shut it off. It WILL make it's way to Zero." Nova Skunk saluted and quickly punched in the information.

  
  


Jazz writhed in the command center, demons still howling at her mind. Their gibbering voices were becoming clearer and clearer, and eventually she made out actual dialogue. "Zero, your soul mate is waiting. Find your destiny and fight for her! I'll be waiting at your birthplace!" The demons cut out and Jazz shuddered, enjoying this moment of respite, but as it continued, something crossed her mind. The voice's accent had switched from Germanic to a rather smooth tone, like that of a certain bald Reploid Jazz had the misfortune to run into once. 

  
  


This can't be good, thought Jazz wryly to herself, and then forced herself to focus. Her mind felt scattered, and it was difficult to bring it together. After she ran a diagnostic: she realized the reason. Her Armor program was activated, and self-reflection was a difficult process, as her systems kept shunting vital programs around her neural net to try and protect them. With a sheer effort of will, Jazz forced the adrenaline-like effects of the Shadow Armor down and focused on gathering herself for a few minutes. Once she felt ready, she opened her eyes and quickly readjusted them to infrared, spotting the warm glow of Bebop, looking very concerned. Focusing a little more carefully as her eyes cleared, she noticed that the heat glow was warmest around the gun barrels built onto his waist as well as his forearms, though he did have his hands out.

  
  


"Weren't expecting me to come back the same Reploid you left me for?" Jazz said, and coughed. Her voice had come out all scratchy. Before she could say anything more, Bebop pounced across the damage and hugged her desperately, whispering frantically, "When your armor reverted I was afraid you had been taken out." Bebop dropped back and hung his head, "I'm sorry for doubting you." 

  
  


Jazz shook her head, "I'll expect a bit more of a repayment later. Right now, what happened to the medical bay?" 

  
  


Bebop explained their location and the reasons behind, concluding, "Now that you're okay, we should be able to get a distance away and teleport out. The nanos you created for the Shadow Armor should decay before anyone comes looking, and we'll be able to make a communications call off a Hunter satellite once we get outside." Jazz nodded, ready to go and return.

  
  


The two quickly reached the entrance to the control center, and paused. It was late afternoon outside, though the control room was dark, and the two Hunters could clearly make out a group of Reploids moving up the trail, carrying some sort of equipment on there backs. "Those are Cain Labs' employees," said Bebop, seeing an insignia on their chests, "But why are they here? This place is in lock-down until Yammark is ready." 

  
  


Jazz theorized, "Maybe Signas or X scrounged them up to get us some medical assistance." Jazz ran outside, "Hey guys! Over here!"

  
  


"There they are! Blast them!" Jazz ducked as the equipment turned out to be high-powered plasma rifles. They didn't have variable weapon's technology, and they were difficult to aim, but they were a bit more powerful than armed mounted plasma-cannon like X and Zero carried. The initial splatter of bolts went over Jazz's head, as she was far too fluid to be hit by a first clumsy salvo. Bebop, standing inside the door and out of range, wasn't firing oddly enough. Jazz quickly activated her ice technique, launching a scattering of blades. Several froze trees and broke off branches, but a greater number went into the front row, spreading ice into various systems in the Reploids who were attacking.

  
  


Bebop showed what he had been doing all this time and stepped out into the line of fire as his color scheme shifted to a special weapon. Chill Penguin's old weapon, grabbed as data in the simulator, proved its real world utility as the charged version generated an ice sled. Jazz saw what was going on and hopped on as the two kicked off. Bebop switched to his kinetic lance, going from blue and yellow accents (the armor didn't change colors) to blue and green and started knocking weapons out of the hands of the Reploids. When they got close, Jazz triggered her beam saber special weapon, her color scheme shifting to match Bebop's as she sliced apart the plasma rifles. The untrained technicians scattered as the Hunters barreled through the center of their ranks, heading over a slight incline and out of sight.

  
  


Jazz decided that this counted as a reason to break silence, "Headquarters, this is Jazz! Come in! Some Cain Lab technicians started shooting us when we came out of the control center! Right now we're running on an ice sled, and it won't last for ever. What's going on?"

  
  


Signas, usually fairly unflappable, replied in an elated tone, "Jazz! You're all right! The transmitter must have been cut off. Zero woke up a minute ago and is storming around base. If we hadn't hidden his Z-saber, he'd probably be off at the Fortress again by now. I'll run a quick check to see what's going on, but right now we're fairly tied up. Report back to base and we'll get you outfitted to do some retirement." 

  
  


Jazz said urgently, "Once we stop moving. We're going a little fast now and we still should put some distance. Listen! The last thing I heard before the transmitter cut out was Sigma calling for Zero, saying Iris was at the fortress!"

  
  


Signas said somberly, "This is bad. Someone's been sending Zero messages to that effect for a while. He won't be going in straight, but I doubt I or the rookies can stop him alone, and I'm working on something as well here. I'll warn the Hunters to watch his back when Zero goes on his rampage. Now, teleport once you get a kilometer away so the station can't track you easily, and don't call again. It might get picked up. Signas out." 

  
  


X sat panting among the ruined remnants of the rock monster. And X and Zero had laughed at Jazz and Bebop's tales of Wily's favorite Devils. The thing's defenses were way out of date, but it had still forced him to drain a sub tank, and he was still a quarter energy down. Luckily, he had his Nova Strike ready again, but had been unable to use it because the Rock Monster had flown around too much. He just hoped Zero still had time as he rushed forward, figuring the Hunters would come through the door quickly enough and onto the next checkpoint.

  
  


Shortly after X left, however, another two energy beams came down. "Go hide in the corner dear. This could get ugly." Iris trembled for a second, and Sigma ignited his beam saber as a warning. The ghastly yellow light tint made Iris cry out slightly and back into a corner. "That's a good girl," said Sigma kindly. Sigma could wait patiently. After all, the next moments would be interesting with the packages he had brought.

  
  


"And speak of the Hunter," Sigma said with amusement as the gate cycled. Sigma casually lobbed one of his surprises forward. It broke open into a cloud of diffused Maverick Virus. Sigma watched with sadistic pleasure as the Hunters turned one each other, reading each other as Maverick as their judgment decayed to the point that they believed they were free. Sigma waited, the survivors he would make Maverick, but he didn't want anyone touching Iris before Zero got here. 

  
  


Signas sat over the console. He was comparing where the various Cain Lab Reploids had been from. He barely looked up as Douglas wandered through the war room, and quickly directed the mechanic along towards the medical wing. Signas quickly called up the radio logs, and noticed an emergency call for anti-Maverick activity in the Amazon, by Douglas, dated right after the conversation with Isoc was finished. 

  
  


"Someone was monitoring our conversation, and the security links either go here or to Cain Labs. Let's see who was on security watch duty." Douglas's name came up, attached to both the call and security duty. "Oh no. Computer, locate Douglas in this building and tell him to report to the War Room at once!" 

  
  


Douglas, several decks down, started to run when he heard the call. He was running out of time, and had moved too hastily, but they needed the Virus to be active for their plans, and eliminating Rock would help. Plus, Isoc should be near there, and then Douglas could finish his pet project. He smiled when he thought of the power he would have. His body had been weak, and he had often been laughed at as almost an accessory to the repair systems. Soon, he would show them all.

  
  


"Level One Alert! Begin Security lockdown process around the Medical Wing! All Hunters, prepare for battle!" Signas barked out, before he started running himself. There was a reserve armory near here, and Signas's plasma cannon alone wouldn't be enough, he needed to pick up something like a Ride Armor or old weapon's data. 

  
  


Douglas cursed in frustration as the heavy plates started to come down around him. Sirens whooped as civilians got the hell out of the way. Douglas knew he was lucky. In the heart of their own base, underneath the dome, in normal circumstances he would be dead by now. But all the Hunters were out! Plus, the Medical wing didn't have weaponry systems, extending the Hippocratic Oath a bit, but damaged Reploids could possibly be targeted by accident. 

  
  


Still, Douglas knew he was running out of time, and quickly activated the little program he had put together. It was still untested, but there was no time like the present. Douglas quickly summoned the form of the program, a green crystal, flashing intermittently with sparks. It didn't quite look solid, but Douglas was pleased it had come this far. Douglas raised the crystal over his head, before green fire sheeted over him. First came the surge of energy, then came the pain. Douglas started to scream as armor phased in and out around him. Staggered and maddened, Douglas put his hand to the bulkhead to steady himself, but tore through it instead. Douglas gave a mad cackle, and went off in search of Rock.

  
  


Isoc heard the sirens and quickly locked the door. With recent security issues, it was possible someone was coming for Rock. Gate looked up, and then dove into his work even more frantically, trying to revive the robot. Isoc looked around. There was nothing that could be used as a weapon, and Gate didn't seem like the type to have much fighting prowess. Isoc had been equipped with some drills in his original job, but he had them removed. The two scientists shared a look of despair. 

  
  


Zero, meanwhile, was looking at Skull Fortress with approval. The ground was shredded, much of the rock and dust that had covered the Fortress had been pounded to glass under the heavy assault once the Ride Armors were brought to bear, and the weapons hung either quiet in their sockets, power cut from the inside, or blasted to wreckage. "Nice work team leaders. I assume X is in the fortress?" The Fourth Unit Commander nodded. Zero drew his saber, checking it out briefly before test-igniting it. "I have some catching up to do then." Zero began to march purposefully across the ground. The exterior had failed, but the inside was still very dangerous, but not for much longer.

  
  


X groaned as he jumped over a spike trap, narrowly missing being hit by the robot shaped like a giant boxing glove. "Note to self: Never critique any bizarreness of Sigma's drones ever again," muttered X. Still, he sensed he was getting fairly close to the structure's core. X felt his old Hunting instincts were back again, and he was depressed. He had started to move into a support role by choice, as there were enough Hunters to cover the world on active duty, but once more he had been called upon. Zero may have enjoyed the return to battle, but Zero couldn't be here. X reminded himself of that fact to urge him to keep going.

  
  


Signas had found a Raiden armor, equipped with a light plasma punch, in the armory as well as a heavier laser weapon to carry and a bazooka. He was now dashing the machine down the corridors. The bulkheads should keep Douglas in one place long enough for me to deal with him, thought the Training Commander, but that was before he saw the bulkheads by the medical wing. They had been torn apart by a great force who had ripped through durasteel like paper. Hunching over slightly, Signas tried to urge more speed from the machine.

  
  


Isoc and Gate's situation was a little better, as two junior Hunters wanted to guard the great Mega Man. Now they stood inside the door, with the confidence of under-experience. Roaring noises could be heard outside, along with a bestial gurgling and the howl of metal tearing. Gate had revealed that he had a heavy pulse blaster on stand by, one that fired energy bursts rather than plasma. Its efficiency wasn't incredible, but it would do damage in close quarters. Gate had explained, "I got it installed just in case the Council got a little rash." The door suddenly opened, and Yammark stood there, crouching behind a field of darting dragonflies. Eyes lighting up, Gate quickly pulled his creation into the room.

  
  


"He's coming. A big thing, in what almost looks like Ride Armor. It's green, but it keeps disappearing," Yammark reported, before going back to deploying more and more dragonflies. They were all armed with cannon, and though they were lightly armored, Yammark could pump out more if need be. 

  
  


Suddenly, the door before them stretched, and Gate quickly gave Isoc his laptop, "We need all the help we can get. Get him on-line!" Gate barked, before bracing his arm in a fairly professional looking pose. After a moment the door burst open, revealing the roaring apparition behind it. 

  
  


"Douglas?" Isoc asked in shock. Isoc's assistant's face was barely visible under the helmet's transparent visor on the armor, and it seemed to be pulsing. Wires twisted with a life of their own around the armor, occasionally plugging in, but the armor seemed to be covered in worms. Add the way that some parts fell off and were regenerated, it was like looking at a zombie. That moment's hesitation as everyone digested the hideous appearance nearly killed them all, but Douglas roared in victory before moving to attack.

  
  


Zero, however, had worked his way through the fortress. Some drones had redeployed, and Zero was using the opportunity to make sure his skills hadn't left him. They hadn't. Zero was untouched when he came to the Rock Monster gate. There, even Zero was appalled. The scent of Reploid blood hung heavy in the air, and the bodies of the Reploids Zero had trained littered the ground, torn up with brutal effect, obviously from close range buster fire, or far too many slashes of a physical weapon. Zero's eyes hardened as he stepped through. He hadn't seen X out here, so he assumed he was still fighting.

  
  


Instead, however, the other side of the gate was quiet. Zero blinked in shock once as his mind had to change gears when he saw the pink-dressed figure with long brown hair inside. "Iris!" Zero said in delight, though he wasn't quite ready to sheathe his saber. The room had been through a lot, with heavy boulders littering the ground, and many of the lights knocked out.

  
  


Iris stared at Zero, uncomprehending for a moment, and Zero, even in the dim light, could see how glassy her eyes looked before they brightened with recognition. Iris uttered a sob that seemed to be ripped from her, and started running towards Zero. The Crimson Hunter, meanwhile, was so beside himself in astonishment that he dropped the Z-Saber and began to move forward. 

  
  


Iris suddenly stopped, though still looking at him. Iris seemed to be struggling with something, and Zero was willing to wait. He had this long. Whatever words Zero was expecting, they weren't, "Look behind you!" Zero whirled in place, and barely triggered his dash thrusters to dodge an energy blast that would have probably left him helpless. Zero looked at his enemy, who was between him and the saber with horror. It was Ajax, though with no spark of recognition in his eyes. Zero focused himself. Ajax, evidently, had gone Maverick somehow, perhaps from the simulator, and he would be mourned later.

  
  


"Hello Zero! It's so nice to see you again," came a voice from the rafters. 

  
  


"Sigma," growled the Crimson Hunter. He glanced around, but couldn't take his eyes off the very dangerous being in front of him.

  
  


"I see you got my message, and I have to say I'm very disappointed in Iris not running you through with a beam saber when she saw you. I guess you managed to hide a bit more of yourself away then I thought possible, my dear. Such a shame, the tragedy would have meant breaking you would be so easy. Now, I'll just have to let my newest recruit tear you apart and make you a willing receptacle. We'll speak again in a little while, Zero. Attack him Ajax!" With a roar, Ajax leapt forward.

  
  


To be continued.

  
  
  
  


Author's note

  
  


Cliffhanger ending. If you're not used to them by now.... Well, at least Jazz is better, but that's about the only good thing that happened.

  
  


I now have the entire post-X4 Maverick Hunter staff cameoed and accounted for. Somehow, I don't think Douglas will come out of this one intact, no matter what happens.

  
  


Note that, I believe in chronology of the series, this was X's first meeting with the Rock Monster. Luckily Jazz and Bebop knew something about Wily's favorite castle guardian. Notice this was Black Devil as well, so I've borrowed something else from X5

  
  


This part is long since I promised a lot in my 'next time' last time, and I tried to deliver.

  
  


I think I've just about got this story arc wrapped up. Iris didn't attack Zero, but she wasn't quite ready to defend him either. I hope they get some time to sort through their issues, since the next one should be quite hectic. 

  
  


The password (to the blueprints) hasn't gotten much of a clue, but e-mail me if you have suggestions for what it might be. Anyone who guesses correctly will be immortalized in the next section's Author Notes. It's not much, but I'm poor. ^_^

  
  


Next time:

  
  
  
  


Iris is back with Zero, but is she really on his side, or is Sigma playing mind games?

Cain Labs staff walked through the Amazon to an off-limits area armed and ready. Were Bebop and Jazz the real target, or could it be something more sinister?

X has to fight a boss, weakened and slowed down, and having sat on the sidelines for a while. With Sigma behind him, does X have a chance? 

Signas is facing down a monster, and if you think it's been awhile since X was doing some training... 

Maverick Hunter security, obviously, is the equivalent of Swiss cheese. How much longer are they going to be able to hide the going-ons from the public? For that matter, how much longer are the remaining unidentified member of the Star Cabal going to LET them hide the going-ons? 

I think that covers everyone, a lot sure happens around here!

  
  


I'm off to do some homework now, and meanwhile plot my Omake special for the end of this

Neon Genesis Xangelion! Or maybe not...


	9. Shadowed Hearts in Purple Flame

Mega Man X 1.5

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Disclaimer: Yes (web check) Capcom STILL owns Mega Man, not I, so please don't sue.

  
  


Purple Flames, Shadowed Hearts

  
  


Iris started to run towards Zero to stand by and help him fight then hesitated. Any closer, and she would be killed. It was irrational, but Iris couldn't but help to back up. Sigma laughed, "A fitting metaphor for your organization's status, eh, Zero? She does not show you any affection, but she does not want to kill you, yet." Sigma's booming laughter rang out over the shadowed room. Ajax hissed and was practically frothing. Or rather, something in Ajax's body, as the feline Hunter was the last in a long line of victims to the Maverick Virus. 

  
  


"Iris, please don't you recognize me!" Zero said frantically. He hated to be so cold about this, but he NEEDED to know if Iris was on his side or not. Without his saber, Zero seriously doubted he could take all three on at once, or even two if one was Sigma. Who knew what surprises were loaded into the latest body? 

  
  


"I'm sorry Zero. I want to, but if I get close, all I see is our battle and my madness. Please forgive me for being weak," Iris sat down, hands around her knees and began to cry. Zero nodded, and turned to face Ajax and Sigma, leaving his back open.

  
  


"Love conquers all, I suppose," said Sigma philosophically, "Oh well. Ajax, tear them to pieces." Ajax snarled in approval, only to be met by a burst of level-3 charged buster fire. Zero, his red armored form looking especially menacing continued forward, launching a series of smaller Z-buster bolts.

  
  


"Hey, now why a beam saber is a real warrior's tool due to the level of control and the power of the mind over techniques, I have to agree with X. When you're in a fluid situation against more opponents, busters are helpful as hell." Ajax's back was against the wall, his chest smoking from Zero's carefully picked shots. 

  
  


Zero reached down and hefted his Z-saber. Very few Reploids could use saber techniques, limiting the effectiveness of sabers, and X hadn't ever wanted to learn. His buster was a permanent part of his form, and so he'd used to use it from necessity, but he wasn't going around carrying extra weapons but his armor, though Zero was sure X would be deadly with one. Still, few could use a saber as well as Zero, as few had the control to take the data from a variable weapon diagram and figure out a way to manipulate the plasma generators in a saber hilt. Zero smirked. Their loss. 

  
  


Zero continued, "That said, there's nothing like a saber for removing an obstacle in a hurry, and it wouldn't be gentleman-like to leave you to Iris, even though I know that in her mental state she can still reduce you sorry excuse for Maverick to scarp in under a minute. No offense to Ajax, but you're about to die, and then Sigma's got to go get making plans for his next body." 

  
  


Ajax snarled and headed forward. Zero, meanwhile, concentrated energy into the palm of his hand. He wasn't sure how Jazz got her techniques to work, since they ran off her main power grid and were nearly as successful at long-range as buster-style special weapons. This was the closest he had. Zero threw the Rakuhouha directly at the chest of the on-coming Maverick, and then turned and dash jumped, tackling Iris as the massive energy burst slammed through the room. Once the roaring stopped, Zero looked up. Almost all the lights were off now, shattered by his technique's power, and the room was even more rubble. "Oh, Maverick?" Zero said lightly, "I lied. The saber's for when I'm not ticked off. Explosions are AMAZING stress relievers. Are you all right, Iris?"

  
  


Iris nodded wordlessly. She seemed to be quivering in place. Zero wanted to go to her, but this wasn't the right time. Sigma waited overhead. Iris finally choked out, "Zero. I'm sorry for this, but you should probably get out of the way." A purple glow started to fill the room. Zero risked a look behind him to see Iris was forming a crystal out of midair. Iris shook her head, stopping Zero from making any moves, "I need to do this Zero. He hurt me, badly, and he thought he could hurt me enough to make me repeat the biggest mistake in my life. Please, just be here for me when I snap out of it, and guard me in my madness." Zero hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, out to the side.

  
  


Iris raised the crystal over her head. Sigma was inclined to watch. There was a chance the stress would cause Iris to rip Zero open, which would make his job easier. However, Sigma seriously doubted that. The weapon system that granted Iris her armor could theoretically be installed in any Reploid, but very few could use it, as they had to be willing to release themselves totally to the battle fury, with their primary personality stored into the crystal when the armor was activated. A loss of concentration would separate the two, making the true Reploid very vulnerable. The crystal's exposure to open air had allowed Sigma to get readings of Iris's personality patterns, and a loyal low-level servant had copied the body schematics. 

  
  


Now, Sigma was about to get a close-up view on how good Maverick workmanship was. Energy flowed from the crystal into Iris's body, and her systems writhed in response, Iris's mind, focused on battle, channeled the energy into a fearsome looking set of armor. Iris took to the air on mechanical wings and released a set of mines at Sigma. Sigma rolled his eyes, and launched a blast of energy from his hand, blowing apart the tiny bombs. "Really dear, I happened to see your battle. I know your techniques." Iris paused to release another set of mines, and then suddenly dashed forward, slamming Sigma off his high platform and down near Zero.

  
  


Well, Zero assumed it was Sigma. He was cloaked and carried a massive staff. The voice was right, however. Sigma growled at Zero, "I'll get you later," and flipped a switch on the staff, igniting a beam, well, scythe. The perfect image of the grim reaper, Sigma jumped into the air. Zero rolled his eyes: Sigma hadn't, apparently, decided to change his look, and was still going through the 'hidden' motif, and Zero had trained against this form. 

  
  


Then Sigma launched a big blue energy beam at Iris, slamming her back. Iris slammed against the wall, and started forward again hesitantly. Zero's eyes widened. There was an actual burn mark on her armor. None of Zero's techniques had done more than weaken Iris psychologically until the crystal split away, at which point Zero began attacking her spirit. Sigma had done actual damage to armor that had withstood everything Zero's beam saber had thrown against it.

  
  


"You see, Iris?" laughed Sigma. "Your power was a useful secondary option to me. I've had a year of progress to improve myself. Much like Repliforce, you are obsolete." Sigma's laughter was cut off by Zero performing a Ryuenjin rising fire slash into the Maverick overlord's back.

  
  


"Someone," Zero said, "Needs to work on their armor next time they come back from the dead. Sigma, I owe you for putting Iris back together, so if you leave VERY quickly, I might just forego hunting you down for a week or two." 

  
  


"You'll go without hunting me far longer than that Zero. It isn't right for the second in command to be a traitor! Enjoy your time as a Maverick!" Sigma tossed a small object out at Zero, and Zero, reflexively, slashed it open when it came in close. A cloud of blackness rolled out and over Iris. "Farewell, Crimson Hunter! With your skills, don't come back until you've killed every Hunter in this fortress, and do try and bring Iris back. She was quite the investment." Sigma warped away. Iris dropped down to the ground and transformed back, and started to run to Zero, but, gasping for air as he felt infection burn into him, he held up a hand to keep her back, as he started to glow with an unholy purple aura.

  
  


***********************

  
  


X continued through the fortress. He was about at full power. Hovering took care of most of the spike problems. X had broken ahead of the Unit 0 Hunters, power and experience blazing his way through Dr. Wily's last set of deathtraps. Now, X knew what was next. The revolving gateway meant that the final control room was on the other side, judging by the number of rings and the Hunter's taking scans of the interior before proceeding. And the Hunters knew a Maverick waited at the heart.

  
  


He took a deep breath, charged the buster, and ran through the gate, which allowed him in. The lights were on in the control room, a little dusty, but still reasonably intact. X's eyes lit up. A chip was obviously visible in a data reader in the console. Unfortunately, there was an eight foot high orange skunk in between him and the chip. "Welcome X! I am Nova Skunk, and I have been given the honor of destroying you."

  
  


X's face was grim. He had no data on this Maverick besides the knowledge that it would be waiting for him. Nova Skunk's basic form was an upright skunk, with a lighter shade of red down his back. The Maverick stamp was proudly displayed on his forehead, right over the stripe. There were no apparent weapon ports, but there could be some hidden in the arms or mouth. He definitely looked confident, but most Mavericks did. 

X started the fight with a max charged burst from his plasma buster. The plasma shot enveloped the Maverick, who yelped and shut his eyes as the high energy ate at his shielding. Nova Strike, however, came out with barely a burn mark. "You'll have to do better than that X." Nova strike launched a high energy burst from his hand out at the Hunter, who jumped into the air and narrowly dodged it. "I use high-intensity particle bursts. You think that plasma cloud is going to do a lot of damage to me?"

  
  


"Okay, so he's an ugly, garishly painted Bebop?" X said incredulously. 

  
  


Okay: if he's heavily shielded, that means he'll have trouble dumping heat or his own weapons will kill him. A highly focused beam should do him in, thought X. Under his white armor, much of his skin turned blue as he switched to the weapon granted by Cyber Peacock.

  
  


Nova Skunk noticed and raised his tail. A series of sparkling orbs shot out. X jumped for the wall, but was unable to dodge them all, an energy bolt striking him and playing over his systems. X screamed as his systems locked up for a moment, and Nova skunk took the opportunity to backhand him. X checked his status display, and groaned. His energy was down by a quarter. But Skunk had stopped for the moment, and X took the opportunity to lock on his weapon and fire a green blast of energy. Skunk groaned as the laser slashed through his chest, leaving a furrow in his armor.

  
  


"Stupid!" X chastised himself, "You gave him time after the weapon's switch." X fired his laser off a few more times, hoping to end this quickly and secure the chip. Nova launched a quick energy beam, but X, his instincts kicking back in after that quick painful burst, switched to the frost tower and fired an ice shield in front of himself. The energy ablated itself against the ice, and X quickly wall-jumped up on top, switching to the aiming laser and blasting again. Nova Skunk's circuits were starting to smoulder as the Laser pinpointed weak spots and fried circuitry. 

  
  


X was surprised. Frankly, this Maverick had some serious firepower and strength: but he really couldn't withstand any damage. It had taken seven shots to leave him practically crippled. Definitely not one of Sigma's best works. X decided Sigma had thought the Wily Fortress would fall anyway, and just wanted to make things painful by leaving something disposable. Nova Skunk's chuckling, however, put X back on his guard.

  
  


"You fool! Even though I may be destroyed, Sigma is wiping out all of Unit 0! Zero will soon take his rightful place as second-in-command! The Hunters lose X, and I have placed my fusion reactor on overload!" X, treating this proclamation with all due seriousness, quickly fired his laser again burning through the feed lines to the reactor. Nova Skunk rested, his madness eased at last.

  
  


X quickly ran over and grabbed the chip, not bothering to take the weapon data right now, especially since he already had a charged energy weapon with his buster. X flipped off the controls, well, which ones weren't destroyed, putting the fortress at rest and shutting down the various jamming systems. Instantly, Signas's voice filled the radio, "X! We've got a situation! I've had to recall a lot of Hunters to base because we've got a Maverick trying to kill Rock! Zero left to help with the fortress, and we can't get any response! All we know is he's in the second ring, and there's a Maverick signature with him!"

  
  


X could hear the faint whir of Ride Armor servos in the background, "Recall all Hunters to base. I've got a few chips here I'll want to analyze when I get back. I'll go see what Zero is up to." X turned to run back through the fortress, and then stopped. A large blue capsule waited in the room, red light on the top blinking slowly. 

  
  


***********************

  
  


Zero was fighting inside his mind. A part of him almost under conscious control seemed to welcome the Virus, and it was difficult to fight. The infection seemed to continue to soak in, and then Zero's eyes widened in surprise. That part of him that was expecting and welcoming reinfection after so long had suddenly recoiled and started defenses. Zero's auto-repair went into overdrive, using the old Virus information."

  
  


Sigma's laughter was cut short as Zero's purple aura was replaced with a red one. At the same time, the red color on his armor seemed to be leeched away, leaving it a dull matte black. "That's impossible!" roared Sigma, "You can't just ... subvert the Virus!"

  
  


Zero shook his head. His world seemed to have a different view, consisting of simple threat analysis and recommended attacks. So this is why Jazz and Bebop prefer to not use this on their missions, realized Zero. He spoke up, opening his eyes, "You're wrong Sigma. You greatly strengthened the Virus, and increased it far beyond what Dr. Wily hoped. However, you forget the original purpose was to strengthen the will of a Reploid, turning them purely into a warrior without any other concerns." Zero ignited his saber, the green energy lighting the dark room, "I am that warrior Sigma. Prepare to get your ass kicked." 

  
  


Sigma, starting to float away in fear, as he saw his Virus, his true self, be suborned to another will like he had done to so many. He launched an energy bolt, but Zero triggered the Tenkuuha and the energy beam split as Zero casually held the saber up to it. "Who wants to see what the Rakuhouha does when the limiters are reduced to critical levels on my power source?" Zero asked nastily. 

  
  


Sigma stared into Zero's eyes for a moment, but he broke first. Sigma snarled at losing the contest of wills and the day, "Next time, you and the rest of your band are mine!" he promised, and quickly teleported out. Iris grinned tremulously at seeing her tormentor defeated by her love, and started to walk over, but Zero held his hand out grim.

  
  


"You can do a lot, Iris, but we don't know what Shadow Armor Virus particles do, and I'll need another moment to finish converting the last of Sigma's particles. For that matter, I don't think I can feel the emotions I should with this on. Give me a moment." Iris nodded. It seemed that he suffered the same demons she did. But perhaps they could get through together, at least, that was what she clung to right now.

  
  


*************************

  
  


The capsule triggered to X's proximity as he stepped forward in surprise. As usual, Dr. Light's caring eyes stared out of it, "Hello X," the program began, "This capsule was sent to this location by the AI threat analysis program. While the capsules are still in development for the next batch of armor, I do have a system I'd like to give you. The testing isn't quite finished, but it's a new plasma generator system that will strengthen shields and weapons, as well as providing a continuous feed to the Nova Strike capacitors." X said nothing, afraid of stopping the rather talkative Light.

  
  


"This Ultimate Armor is far beyond almost any other weapon of war analysis indicates is possible in this time period. I did not want to give it to you, as I was worried for your safety and I did not want to increase the arms race by showing yet another level of achievement yet. However, if you're in Wily's fortress, you must have discovered enough to be tracking down the Virus. If so, the threats against you will surely rise in severity. If you wish, step into this capsule and receive the power." Light paused, the hologram looking directly into X's eyes, "I'm sorry you could never meet Rock, Roll, or Blues, X, but tell Bebop and Jazz to give as much information as they can. They have some great stories, especially about Proto man, who is rarely in the history books. I hope you can achieve our dreams of peace." 

  
  


X blinked. That was rather odd. Well, most of it was fairly standard, if a bit verbose, but why the last bit? X decided to think on it later. The Ultimate Armor's improved power would allow X to help his friend faster if he could do many, many super air-dashes. X quickly jumped into the capsule, which crackled with energy as it downloaded its improved components. X looked at himself when the process was complete. The usual white armor had switched to black, and the verniers and antenna sticking from his shoulders had been replaced with a more rounded look. X quickly put the armor to the next, triggering a Nova Strike, quickly moving back out into the hallways, and was gleeful when he noticed his energy was still high. "I'm on my way Zero!" X promised, Nova Striking as fast as he could through the halls. 

  
  


********************

  
  


Gate typed faster as the heavy door was pounded farther in. The door had broken once earlier, but Isoc's authority had deleted Douglas's passcodes, and so the weapon systems primitive AI finally recognized him as an enemy. The amount of plasma directed at Douglas had knocked him back, allowing the group to rig several tables into a makeshift barricade.

  
  


That said, Gate was awestruck by the amount of firepower involved. He seriously doubted even X or Zero would be able to make it through the gauntlet present in the medical wing. None of the Hunters had ever seen their defense grid at full power before, and it was what Sigma WANTED to have, except his fortresses kept getting blown up. Hunter HQ had years for engineers to pack even more firepower within its walls.

  
  


Douglas had been greatly weakened by the assault, and the jade armor covering him had several deep craters in it now, including one that had apparently gotten through, judging by the small leak of lubricant visible on the exterior cameras. Tiny specks of armor continued to fleck off Douglas and he continued to be wracked by the green lightning going over him. Gate checked the map. Hunters were racing their way through the structure, and Signas was perhaps a minute away. Yammark released his drones, but he definitely looked a bit shaky. This would be his first time in a war that Gate had hoped his creation would never have to join.

  
  


With a final groaning shudder, the durasteel door guarding the medical bay gave way. Gate grabbed Isoc and hit the floor. Rock's firepower and experience would have come in handy, but his systems lay maddingly quiescent. Gate activated his buster, tossing out energy bolts as Yammark and the Hunters in the room did the same. The energy bursts impacted against Douglas's frame with a shower of sparks as plasma grounded itself. Isoc's administrative side took a moment to shudder at what sort of repairs the medical equipment would require after this before the self-preservation side kicked in and told Isoc to keep his head down.

  
  


Douglas seemed to soak up the charge without realizing its intent for a moment, but he spotted the flicker of movement from the white armored Isoc, and with a roar, started forward after him. The various weapon-armed groups in the room were flung aside, as Isoc scrambled to try and back away from the monster in front of him. Tiny sparks flew off as Douglas said haltingly, "Give me the pass codes! I will be complete in my perfection!" 

  
  


Isoc's eyes widened in horror, "You did this to yourself, Douglas, why?"

  
  


"To gain strength of course," Douglas declared, "Only a fool wouldn't think that the time for humanity is past. Institutions are breaking down, the very state of the Hunters proves it! I will survive the forthcoming wars, and Cain Lab's has the technology I need to do it with, but you foolishly locked away the final components to stabilize it. Give me the codes!" Douglas yelled, launching energy bolts near Isoc's feet. The impacts of the Hunters' shots against his back were starting to injure him.

  
  


Isoc shook his head sadly, "Douglas, it can't be stabilized! We sealed the records to prevent anyone from creating another Iris! The two portions to the system couldn't be permanently reconciled without causing psychosis!" 

  
  


Gate added, "We designed Colonel to get some use out of the secondary program, as well as help Iris recover. Our designs put her in a deep depression in the original state, and Colonel was designed to help her out of it. Her personality matrix was designed as a healer and to offer support, in order to make teaching her to use her powers only for defense. Even then, Iris could only use the armor correctly when she was in a murderous rage, and she was designed for it. Maybe in a few years, we could get it working, but not now. Douglas, turn the system off now, and the Hunters will probably help you." 

  
  


"No!" Douglas said, "Your safe little bets and doubts prove why you will perish! If I can't have them willingly, I will rip them from his memory core!" Douglas suddenly shuddered as an impact made its way through his armor. Mental state barely stable as it is, Douglas forgot his overall goal to punish the Reploid who dared injure him.

  
  


Signas sat at the controls to a Raiden Ride Armor, and said, "You talk WAY too much." Signas used a powered swipe to egg the out-of-control Reploid further, and starting backing up. He couldn't utilize the Ride Armor's full power with all these people in the area. Douglas took the challenge, ramming into the armor and slamming it backwards against the opposing wall. Signas winced when he saw the damage. The structural integrity on the Raiden had dropped by half. 

  
  


"You haven't seen what I can really do yet, Hunter! And this is before I get full power!" yelled Douglas. He launched a bolt of energy, easily half the size of the Raiden. Signas jumped out of it in a hurry as it was smashed to splinters by the energy bolt. "Now, Isoc!" said Douglas, "It's time for you to pay." Isoc wondered if his will was current, and then realized he had the laptop that was connected to Rock's files. Isoc quickly slid it towards Gate, who groaned in dismay.

Sure enough, Douglas picked up on the movement, and spun around to prepare to launch the green bolt at Gate, who fired his pulse blaster up at the monstrosity, knocking loose a few insignificant chips of emerald, as Douglas finished charging. Gate closed his eyes as the unearthly green energy bolt was thrown at his direction, but opened them after a moment to find him eclipsed by Yammark. Gate yelled in dismay, a wordless keening, as the energy flow stopped and Yammark collapsed. His drones had absorbed quite a bit of the energy, but not nearly enough, and his armor had liquified under the stress. A few sparks were left from activated circuitry. "I wanted to make you proud, father," Yammark whispered, before falling backwards.

  
  


"Insignificant and worthless," judged Douglas. "Gate, you spend far too much time tinkering with the mind rather than the body. This is why you fail." Douglas prepared another energy bolt, quickly knocking aside the Hunters who attempted to grab him.

  
  


Gate looked up, tears in his eyes, "Go to hell, you insane bastard." 

  
  


"Never," declared Douglas. The energy bolt prepared, he was about to hurl it, but then he got cut off by someone whistling for attention in the doorway. Douglas turned and fired an energy bolt, but no one rested in the doorway. Suddenly, Douglas staggered to the side. He had been hit from an unexpected corner. Douglas turned to find the Blue Bomber himself sitting up in bed and pumping plasma.

  
  


At the same time, Bebop and Jazz, carrying heavy blast shields, came into the doorway. Bebop explained quickly, "Sorry about the whistle, but it seemed appropriate with these. Half the Hunter corps is right behind us, but jet-assisted flight, and the fact we got the call to return sooner, came in handy. Can we please get everyone out now?" Bebop saw Rock sitting up in bed and firing, "Rock! You're alive! Yikes!" Bebop ducked as Douglas sent a smaller energy bolt over his head. Isoc and the two Hunters cleared out, wounded by the battle. Gate went slower, dragging Yammark. Bebop and Jazz looked grim when they saw the damage done to the Reploid, before nodding and turning to blast Douglas. 

  
  


Gate paused as soon as he was out of the line of fire, "Shouldn't you two be using that nifty Shadow Armor upgrade, or at least flying? I thought we got your Maverick-style signature locked out." 

  
  


Jazz shouted over the roar of her launchers, getting the opportunity since Douglas seemed a bit confused about who to eviscerate first."We exhausted the thrust reserves getting here, and it will take a few minutes for them to recharge. Besides, Shadow Armor program's main advantage is saber-length combat, and he's got a better reach, and I'm not sure he's touchable with green energy running over him." 

  
  


Besides, Jazz thought, I don't like how I think with that thing on. I feel so ... mechanical, and not quite in control of myself. Stupid Maverick Virus, I wish I hadn't learned I had that. It just means more poking and prodding and being strapped to tables to no end. And having my creator try and wipe me out of my own body didn't help. Bebop says that there are better ways to work through aggression, but this guy's about to GET what's coming to him. 

  
  


Douglas had finally made up his mind, and charged after where two people were shooting him, rather than one. Bebop and Jazz noticed the crack on his front, which had been lightly sealed over with more emerald armor. Bebop's lasers were easily diffused by the crystal structure, but that was what his kinetic lance was for, which effectively projected a force field into a beam and projected it outwards. 

  
  


The crystal cracked under the first blow as Douglas trotted forward, intent on ripping the cats to shreds. Evidently the Death Rays took a bit of energy. Jazz unleashed her charged attack and four missiles impacted against Douglas's expanded frame to no apparent effect. However, Bebop's second lance worked better, cracking through the armor. Douglas stopped for a second from the hit, and Jazz triggered her Giga Attack, letting loose a giant beam of energy.

  
  


Douglas howled as it hit, but when it cleared, he was still functional and upright. Sparks flew from the wound in his torso, but it was too low to hit the fusion reactor, so he was still on-line. "Oh man! That takes forever to recharge!" Douglas's attack didn't, as he got a huge bolt of energy ready. The two cats exchanged a glance and started dashing away, shields strapped over their thruster packs. They didn't quite clear it in time as the green orb hit the corridor and billowed outwards, channeled by the walls and smacking the two down. Most of the fury was spent over their heads as they lay sprawled on the floor. Douglas ran out into the corridor, still being smacked by Mega Man's buster shots. The two cats took off dashing, hoping to meet the Hunters coming in from both directions.

  
  


Rock ducked under Douglas and headed after Bebop. New memory circuits were on-line, including additional information leading up to Blue's death. His brother was in trouble, not to mention in training, and Rock was supposed to take care of him, as well as deliver Dr. Light's schematic files. 

  
  


Douglas trembled and wasn't sure which way to go. His mind was continuing to fall apart. It was harder and harder to think with each second, as his mental capacity decayed farther more of the reminder was required to maintain the armor program. Staggering, Douglas went after the two who had gone together. 

  
  


Actually, the three had linked up. HQ was deliberately a honeycomb that could be segmented, with lots of dead ends and passages dropping down. Douglas had shredded many on his way into the medical wing, but the trio were headed towards the main elevator shaft, where most of the rest of the Hunters had gathered.

  
  


Isoc was finishing telling a story to the gathered Hunters who were still able, "And Dr. Light coded it to Proto Man's whistle! Of all the crazy things," he said, shaking his head. Gate was off to the side, being consoled by Alia and Laser Wolf next to Yammark's corpse. Judging by the shaking of his shoulders, he was crying. 

  
  


Jazz and Bebop skidded to a halt when they saw the Hunters, Rock nearly hitting Bebop. There were perhaps 120 out of the usual near-thousand or so. "Is this all who're left?" Jazz said in a quiet tone. X and Zero turned around, though not instantly recognizable with their black armor. Jazz winced, "He got you too, huh Zero?" The Shadowed Hunter nodded, arm around Iris. 

  
  


X said softly, "Most of Unit 0 is retired, but almost everyone else is on the disabled list. Zero had a nasty run-in with Sigma," Jazz and Bebop winced from remembered massive shrapnel wounds, "We've got quite a few people being checked by medics. Wily was shooting for disables, probably since he thought he could convert damaged mechanical units. Still, we're down to one-tenth strength for the time being." X looked at Rock, "Isoc, get him upstairs and start work, and see if the chips I found have anything good on them." 

  
  


"Let me guess," Bebop asked, "We're about to be hooked up to machines for another month?" The two crossed their arms irritably as Rock trotted after the scientist Reploid. 

  
  


Zero shook his head, "Nah, we'll let you go up against the crazy green glowing guy instead. When I got infected, I didn't lose any energy. My systems handled the Virus perfectly, and the fact that I blocked the kind of energy beam X can't throw around means they'll be that much more interested." 

  
  


"You know," Bebop said, "I really wish I could feel bad about this." Jazz nodded her agreement. Zero shrugged. It gave him more time to spend with Iris, considering she wouldn't be in combat for a while, and it wasn't likely Zero's level of skill would be needed if they got a vaccine.

  
  


The mood was broken by a roaring noise. Douglas wasn't in the best shape, as more and more armor had fallen off, as he was now looking more and more like a battle-armored version of himself. Iris glared and balled her hands into fists at the shape. It was her nightmare, and how she saw herself in the armor as a monstrosity without sense or conscience. Zero drew her behind him, and ignited his saber and performed a dash slash. Plasma crackled off the armor as the saber's integrity was disrupted. The armor soaked up plasma easily and deflected it. 

  
  


Zero's reactions were good enough to double jump out of the way as Double reached out with one energy-infused hand. The Hunters opened up with a barrage of every sort of projectile possible. Zero shrugged and went to Z-buster shots, while X got out his Ground Hunter special and launched charged shots into the crack. Douglas managed exactly three steps against the combined might of the Hunters before falling over. The Hunters cheered. At least something was going right, and according to the briefings, this was at least one mole they had managed to remove.

  
  


About a half second later, due to the light speed delay, a man smiled. "Enjoy your victory Hunters. Two and Three have failed, but you have yet to look out for Number One. They've both proven that you have the will and raw strength to fight your way through physical obstacles, so it's time to give you something you can't shoot." The man quickly called his secretary, "I need our Publicity Expert, Mrs. Thorne. I've gotten some footage from ... a concerned citizen and I'd like to see how best to release it." The man settled back. Sigma had failed to contain Zero due to his reliance on taking the mind. Douglas had failed to compromise the Hunters because of his obsession with strength. "I, however, will attack their souls, and even the mighty X has little defense against that." Number One chuckled and went to work. There was much to be done.

  
  


To be continued.

  
  
  
  


Author's notes:

  
  


Mrs. Thorne just sounded like a secretary's name. It has no special significance.

  
  


Or does it?

This chapter is dedicated to Yammark, the only boss in X6 I as yet have managed to beat without using ANY armors and X. I thought the wimpy guy needed something better than that.

  
  


After a few chapters that were fairly depressing, the Hunters needed a happy ending. Well, Gate's in trouble, but he's not a Hunter. Iris is on the thin edge of sanity, but she's not a Hunter either. 

  
  


Zero and X get power-up packages! I liked the idea of combining Maverick Zero red aura with the black armor. Plus, you gotta love the Ultimate Armor. 

  
  


Well, it's a happy ending in the sense that if they work fast, they may get a vaccine. They have given their enemies unwittingly enough rope to hang themselves with. Their interior defenses are wrecked, and a lot of the Hunters are off-line. It's an initial happiness thing. Once the rush fades off, they're back to work. 

  
  


I'm starting to wonder if I can write a non-parody happy story. sigh

  
  


Please R/R! I'm almost done with this story arc (which was very centralized on X). I think the next story arc may be more Zero/Iris focused. I'm not telling exactly what will happen yet, but the status quo, which was fairly maintained in X.5 and X1.5, is going to be REALLY shaken up for X2.5! 

Next time: The Hunters may have finally found a cure for the Virus, but is the Vaccine worse than the Disease? For that matter, the public has to decide how much leeway they're willing to give a bunch of heavily-armed Reploids that sometimes resemble an X/Zero personality cult than anything else. 


	10. Hunters' Last Dance: Part 1: The Orches...

Mega Man X 1.5

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


The Final Disclaimer to 1.5 In lieu of this, I'd just like to say that if Capcom was willing to give me the rights to MMX, I'd snap them in a second. Until that day, Capcom owns Mega Man X.

  
  


The Last Dance of the Hunters: Part One: The Orchestra

  
  


X, Lifesaver, and Gate looked at the viral readings in dismay. Zero, Bebop, Jazz, and Iris; the various test dummies that had their neural patterns overlaid to create a vaccine program, looked at the readings sadly in the background. Alia and Wolf had popped in, as they were about to drag Bebop and Jazz to a training exercise. It was two days after the attack on HQ, and repairs were underway. Some were precautionary measures, like the current project. 

  
  


Gate had taken the information from Isoc on the original blueprints of Zero, Bebop, and Jazz and compared it with their current programming to isolate the Viral guard their systems had put together after infection. The chips X had found, unfortunately, had been nothing more than some old drone blueprints. Iris had been tapped because of the fact that, through great hardship, she had learned control over the berserker core of her programming, and learned to tap that power for greater gain. She had volunteered for the project to prevent future pain, but she still rarely spoke, and even then only to Zero. 

  
  


All four had risen above programs counter to their very nature, and typically molded them into something more workable. Iris's original battle armor had been far more heavily armed, but much of that weaponry had not phased into existence when Iris activated her armor program for the first time in her battle against Zero, mind broken by watching the two Reploids she loved the most fight and the stress of war.

  
  


Zero, Jazz, and Bebop had been exposed to the world's most dangerous virus in an earlier, non airborne form. Then, willpower had somehow carried the day, but even they had been unable to wipe it out completely. Instead, the chaos-raising and hate sections of the Virus had been removed, forging the Virus into a weapon that they could unleash as necessary. 

  
  


The current form of the Virus, when exposed to their mutated form, was changed as well by their auto-repair systems as it recognized the Virus as 'damaged'. An analysis on Zero had shown, due to being in the same form as Doctor Wily had envisioned, that the Virus nanos formed themselves into a layer of extra ablative armor, increasing damage, and by spreading throughout his systems, allowing quicker recovery from stresses, allowing Zero to move faster with a better reaction time. Zero could activate a weaker version at will, as well, which simply boosted his own auto-repair systems alone, but it wasn't quite as powerful as the Maverick Virus version.

  
  


Jazz and Bebop, however, couldn't go through the same system without losing energy. There fusion reactors weren't quite capable of maintaining the extra Virus nanos, or keeping up matter synthesis to maintain the extra armor and subsystems, without draining off active energy from the fusion tank. This was because of a bit of cross contamination on their parts. Jazz's systems in their original form should have been just fine, but during their 30-year-coma, the two had overlaid circuit diagrams to a degree, gaining Bebop his ability to handle the nanos, but losing Jazz's perfect control over the same. 

  
  


(Tremor's Note: I swear I'm done my exposition for at least a little while, but I figure the recap would come in handy for late-comers. Especially since Zero just pretty much reconfigures the Virus in the last chapter with little explanation. Anyway, where was I)

  
  


However, once again, the antagonists of 20XX had proven why their designs were so superior. If it could be locked down to one circuit tracing or so, then the Hunters could build Shadow Armor into every Reploid on the planet. Even if their fusion cores would be drained, they wouldn't be infected, truly a fate worse than death. The three had strident objections to this, as due to the increased influence of the remaining Virus's warrior programming, someone in the effect of Shadow Armor was effectively a psychopath. A psychopath who could be directed and knew which enemies should be instantly destroyed, but still, all the emotions and relationships a Reploid valued were reduced to insignificant spots of light in the background of consciousness. 

  
  


Frankly, Gate was willing to consider that allowable, but Fate had intervened. Every attempt to build in a Shadow Armor system had failed. Even Iris's systems had proven more reproducible just going off of partial medical records. Gate decided he could probably rewire a Shadow Armor system into either Bebop, Jazz, or Zero, but he doubted he could build one into another Reploid. 

  
  


Still, one good thing had come from the analysis. The Shadow Armor enhanced nanomachines were completely noninfectious. They gave off a Maverick signature in use, but the three would have a better chance of infecting other Reploids by releasing cold germs.

  
  


So, with the hardware side out, Gate had concentrated on the programming side of things. Iris's ability to control what, all in all, was pure berserk madness had been added into things due to the similarity of the Maverick Virus to such, according to eyewitness accounts and the three Infected Hunters in the room. Gate had managed to, due to his earlier groundwork, plus the better analysis he was able to perform with their blueprints; create a Vaccine program. Unfortunately, the Vaccine seemed just as horrifying.

  
  


"Gate," Zero asked impatiently, "That little Metool in there is going to move again, right?" Zero tapped on the glass that separated them from the small helmeted robot, wires leading up into its cap as the Vaccine had been loaded through them. Since the program had activated, the Met had simply frozen. By all accounts, it should have either rejected the programming or given an error message if something was wrong, and Gate wasn't quite prepared to test it was working by finding some Maverick Virus and dumping it on the little guy. 

  
  


Zero, finally fed up by the lack of response, stopped tapping and started pounding. The glass was incredibly tough, but it couldn't take that kind of punishment for very long. "Hey! Met!" yelled Zero, "Blink or something!" The Metool, obligingly enough, blinked. Everyone stopped talking. Zero said cautiously, "Metool, fire your plasma cutter through those wires and walk around the room three times." The Met instantly replied. Zero muttered, "One final test: Met, self-preservation is your highest priority." The Met suddenly looked around cautiously. "Okay: Met, self-preservation is your highest priority, and kill yourself." The Met calmly fired its plasma cutter at close range into the wall. At such range, the feedback for the particle stream, especially against the plasma-diffusive metal, started burning its way through the Met's delicate circuitry. After a moment, the Met gurgled and suddenly ducked down, smoke coming out from under its helmet, its circuitry fried beyond repair.

  
  


"Okay," said Gate slowly, "We've just created a totally obedient Met. One that would probably duck down immediately at any foe, but was still happy to incinerate itself? It's got self-preservation routines! It shouldn't do that unless some programming pretty much wiped its, oh no." Gate hit the desk a few times with his head. Luckily, he was wearing his helmet.

  
  


"So, you've created an Obedience Virus?" Bebop said incredulously. Gate shrugged. It certainly looked that way.

  
  


"I need to check, but the Met seemed to respond to Zero, when every preprogrammed command met, ha ha, with nothing." Gate opened a few files and scanned them, "Apparently the priority level got changed inside its head. It NEEDED desperately to obey humans, and we're fairly close to a Met's scanners. I think I'll need to borrow another Met, maybe try a non-human Reploid or two to see if they'll obey."

  
  


"That's it. Alia, Wolf, Bebop!" Jazz ordered, "We're going training with Lancer before something else goes wrong, and we're involved! That Virus is NOTHING but trouble. Why aren't we using our readings to fine-tune the satellites to find Sigma's hidden base or something is beyond me!" Jazz raged as she stomped towards the door.

  
  


X said softly, "If they found out you were infected, the Council would have you blown to scrap faster than you can say, 'Wait! I'm cured!' Mind you, the idea of an Obedience Virus is worse. Gate, are you sure that thing will defeat the Virus?" The quartet didn't acknowledge what X had said. They knew it already as they quietly filed out. Gate punched at his systems for a few minutes before responding to X.

  
  


Gate said, "As sure as I can be without a handy stock of Maverick Virus. Frankly, this is my best attempt so far. It seems to be able to match the Viral programming, from what I've seen. Unfortunately, it seems the Maverick Virus attacks the personality grid, and randomizes it to the point of no resistence, rebuilding the Reploid into a destroyer. Without a Virus for our Vaccine to fight, it seems to have wiped out the personality grid, but I need to do more tests, but I don't really WANT to. This thing might just be as bad as the Maverick Virus." 

*************************

  
  


"And wouldn't Number two just LOVE to know that, eh Gate," said Number One, watching the usual unfolding drama at Maverick HQ. It was definitely his second favorite activity. Hunter security was impressive enough against most hackers, but if you break far enough in once, you typically can foray in a little while afterwards. For example, Sigma had used Techno to break in once, and managed to establish a paper trail for Double later. Hunter security records were technically Council property, and were lightly encrypted. The Council only checked once a week or so, and the Hunters had been doing their best to edit those records. But when you had the originals, things got much more interesting.

  
  


The Hunters tried so hard to fulfill their goals, thought Number One but they were eternally playing catchup. Light's new toys and Wily's old weapons had given them a hope of finally eliminating the Virus from the Maverick equation. "Still, instead of driving the Reploids against humanity, driving them into the perfect servants might just be as useful to my goals." Their Vaccine would have to be tweaked, of course, but they had stumbled upon something useful. A total lockdown of personality functions, except when an order came through, and then the personality grid devoted itself to solving the problem.

  
  


Number One had finished compiling the various reports on the Hunters. They had proven quite useful in the past, keeping a semblance of order in the world, but their leadership had begun to decay into irrationality, making them rely simply on their own ethics as a guideline. Admirable yet, especially with the 'knight errant' setup that the Hunters favored. However, from that point onward, it was a matter of time until fearful humans found out. What would happen if the Hunters decided that Sigma was right? Most people, rightly, derided that view, but the subject had been breached. Repliforce had merely increased the possibility of the Hunters being out of control vigilantes, and the fact that the Hunters HAD acted as out-of-control vigilantes recently in their quest to destroy the Virus made things easier for One. 

  
  


Now, One was merely a button press and a short conversation away from releasing a series of statements and anonymous tips to world authorities that would end in the complete and utter destruction of the Hunters. Now, he had to call Number Two. The existence of a Vaccine would allow his patient co-conspirator to make movements with his Mavericks. 

  
  


"One week, maximum," decided Number One, "That's how long they'll have before every army in the world is targeting their precious fortress. A week from today, the Hunters will cease to exist as a functioning weapon of war." Number One began his final preparations. Once again, it was time for a new order of things. X's existence had revolutionized the world. Sigma's decision to destroy humanity for the good of his species had a similar lasting effect. "I can top that," murmured Number One happily.

  
  


***********************

  
  


"I knew it!" said Laser Wolf happily. The four had been involved in an exercise with the Ninth Unit (Special Terrain) of the Maverick Hunters, or the Rangers as they preferred to call themselves. Rarely involved in large battles, there job was typically to serve as scouts and flankers for the main body of the Maverick Hunters, and so individual exercises were the norm. This was, actually, Jazz and Bebop's first opportunity to actually train in the Ninth's facilities despite being on the roster officially for almost a month, due to the hectic last few weeks of being either unconscious, thought to be infected, or busy being strapped to examining tables to try and distill a Vaccine from their programing.

  
  


Laser Wolf, someone who took almost as much pride in his skills as a warrior as Zero, was ecstatic due to two reasons. Firstly, despite not having the opportunity to work with their entire squad of the two ancients and Alia, the quartet's cohesion had quickly returned. The second reason was something Wolf had always suspected: despite being heavily armed for long-range combat, his three squad members had great potential with close-range beam weaponry of various sizes. 

  
  


Jazz and Bebop didn't have a problem with that, as they had been using their claws in battle with a skill that was almost second nature, but were very raw with any sort of maneuver more advanced than a simple swing with a saber. Beam-weapons hadn't existed when the two had been constructed. Alia's problem was one that meant she would be unlikely to get into close combat any time soon. Her design was still very civilian, and while she had agility, she lacked the battle armor that most close-combat specialists carried, and even Jazz and Bebop, before their upgrade, had better defense systems than she did. A single saber swing could cripple her.

  
  


Originally, this hadn't been seen as a problem by the Hunters, but on further consideration, especially of the massive losses taken assaulting Wily's last fortress, Alia had wanted to get a better upgrade to deal with fighting in enclosed spaces. Her lightning gun made things nasty for opponents in a large radius when she used its charged function, but there were some Mechaniloids equipped to deal with those sort of charges, and in a heavily forested or rocky area where the fighting was at close range, she could be in trouble. 

  
  


Normally, upgrading wasn't too difficult. Alia's record was quite good so far, and a simple armor upgrade was more tedious than expensive. Sadly, the medical corps didn't have time for that right now. There were a gut-wrenching number of injuries from the operation, and the medical staff had been putting in insane hours. The Ninth, mainly sniping, had gotten off light and was at sixty percent effectiveness. The cream of the Hunters special operations division, Unit 0, however, had been wiped out except for its commander by Sigma himself, who had then fled rather than face the Hunter Sigma had accidentally improved. \

  
  


Jazz and Bebop, with some robotics instruction by the masters of the field themselves, Dr. Wily and Dr. Light, and they were putting something together in their spare time. Wolf had long decided he could sleep easier without knowing exactly where they were getting their equipment from. Still, Alia had decided she would be a Hunter and help defend her race's reputation in the eyes of humanity, and Wolf, who had been a bit aimless after the Fourth Uprising and joined the Hunters by default, had found himself inspired once again by Alia's determination. He wanted the world for her, and it hurt him far worse than any enemy weapon to see her morose over her capabilities. For now, he simply continued leading the training of the other three. Lancer didn't appoint squad leaders, but the two cats and Wolf's angel had appointed him one anyway.

  
  


Still, Wolf watched Alia deliver three stinging taps to Jazz's front, who fell down under the accumulated shocks. Jazz's lack of combat practice was definitely showing, and Wolf had let the two go at it to encourage Jazz to get some extra training as well as try and boost Alia's confidence. Bebop was busy working on midair target practice with Lancer. 

  
  


Wolf looked at the hilt in his hand and sighed. While armor work was easy, setting up a beam saber recharge system, diverting a plasma feed into the holding cells of a saber hilt, was a bit more involved. Zero had gotten one only in the process of being rebuilt from his stasis mode in the First Uprising. Alia's systems were relatively standardized, and it probably wouldn't be too difficult, considering a direct tap from the fusion reactor was involved. Jazz and Bebop's wiring, however, was a mess, and their weapon systems were an amalgamation of several different GENERATIONS of weapon design. Jazz had managed to weapon copy a beam saber, but its use was limited and the energy drain was substantial. Even so, Wolf was interested in what seeing her technique system could do with a true saber's systems.

  
  


Even if someone could figure out a way through the practical problems without blowing up the two ancient Reploids in the process, Jazz and Bebop now practically had a phobia about hospitals. Whenever they woke up in one, they were kept under heavy observation and scrutiny. For all Wolf knew, the two had managed to doodle a system together to get around their saber limitations, but they weren't ready to implement it for fear of some other secret being discovered during the installation process.

Wolf decided that Alia had done enough damage to Jazz's self-esteem for one day, and called an end to the training session. Jazz was staring daggers at Wolf. She had a fine head on her shoulders, and knew exactly what had been up, and she had been fully aware of her lack of practice during the battle against Douglas a few days ago. Wolf bowed slightly in apology and Jazz's expression lightened slightly. Seeming to struggle with something, she talked to Alia for a moment before the other female-based Reploid went to hang up the sabers, and Jazz scooted over, hovering slightly above ground on her jet pack. "Bebop and I want to show you something later after dinner," she whispered. Wolf nodded and the ancient went out, probably to stop the combat match between the Unit Commander and her love before one chopped the other into scrap. Bebop and Jazz had actually managed to be found in the present one year ago today, and so they were going out to celebrate. Alia came back with a low smile on her face, and Wolf grinned. The two of them were off duty as well tonight, and they felt their continued relationship was easily worthy of a little celebration.

  
  


***************************

  
  


Despite various relationships continuing along well, all was not rosy, emotional wise in Hunter HQ. It rarely was, due to the constant stream of injured or dead Reploids flowing through its doors. Things for one Hunter were worse than they had been for a long time. Zero had taken months to recover from Iris's death, the one person who made him think there was more than mere combat to make him important. With her death, he had thrown himself into training with a vengeance, raising his already near-supernatural levels of skill, and honing his Unit to perfection.

  
  


The Unit was gone, now. Zero doubted Sigma had managed to get the Unit to go through the door one at a time and get killed, he had trained them better than that. Instead, somehow, Sigma had gotten his elite members to rip themselves to pieces, leaving one survivor to be infected. Damningly, Zero had not been there to help, and even when he should have fallen to the same fate, he had once again survived, being forced to kill one of his star pupils. Sigma had not even had the decency to wait around and be challenged. So, now Zero was up on the roof of the HQ dome, watching the city lights and in deep depression.

  
  


"Is this a private guilt fest, or can anyone join in?" asked Iris softly. Zero jumped up in surprise. He should have heard her approach. He was farther gone than he had realized. Iris looked at Zero with anguish in her eyes, "Zero. I'm sorry about your friends. I should have helped. I was there, but I was useless again and stood by. I wish I could claim programming or something, but Sigma took great delight in informing me of the pains he took to keep me clean of the Virus. He wanted me in control and ready to put an energy beam through your torso." Iris, like many Reploids, had human responses to emotions, and her eyes were filling with tears.

  
  


Zero reached out and grabbed her hand softly, "Listen, Iris. You've been through a hell as dark, or worse, than anything a Hunter has ever faced from the Mavericks. Sigma usually shatters minds. He tried to make you over in his own image with your mind intact, and you held out. I don't know if I could do that. Especially with the last year or so I've been having." Zero sighed morosely. 

  
  


Iris said, "Zero, from anyone else, maybe, I could accept that. You're the strongest person I know, and though you're maybe a little trigger happy," Zero snorted, but Iris continued resolutely, "You go in with a few basic systems and cleaned up half of the Fourth on your own. X gets super-advanced armor systems. That takes iron will, and a determination to do good. It's why I love you. You don't have the awesome power of some of the Maverick generals, but you simply try harder and ARE better than them. Remember, if you were infected once before, Sigma, Cain's greatest design, failed against a form of the Virus that you, Bebop, and Jazz all succeeded in at least grinding to a halt. That wasn't the technology that lets you use the Virus, that was sheer willpower, and I envy that." 

  
  


Zero chuckled darkly, "I guess we're at an impasse then. We both know the other person in this debate is stronger than he or she are?"

"Giving up then?" Iris whispered.

  
  


Zero shook his head, "Sit down. There's plenty of room. We can discuss things a little further." Iris took the offered seat. Things weren't right with them, of course, but Iris could see a light at the end of the tunnel.

  
  


***********************

A few hours later, Laser Wolf stood in Jazz and Bebop's room with arms folded. He had dropped off a few gifts for them a moment ago: some group photos, some champagne, and two beam sabers. Wolf rarely gave up, and the two's delaying tactics to show something off was getting to him, "All right, you two. You're cackling like mad. Either you've gotten someone to teach you a new game that involves a lot of mid-air disc-throwing, or you've come up with some new toy. Considering your last one was that improved armor warp capability that probably saved some human lives at Dr. Cain's retirement party, I'm expecting quite a bit here." 

  
  


The two, relenting, quickly went over to a closed storage cubby and made a show of pushing the open button. The doors dutifully retracted. It took a moment for Wolf's sensitive optics to pick up what was inside, as the cats rather sensitive optics meant they preferred to work in darker conditions when outside their battle armor. It was, incidentally, a set of armor on a stand, but while it had a superficial resemblance to Bebop's thruster pack with additional thruster pods on projected wings, many of the details were quite different. Jazz and Bebop proudly pulled the armor out.

  
  


It was primarily green, but it had more pink accents than it originally had, along with a red visor. A set of wings hovered on the back. Jazz said, "Gate said he wouldn't have time to try and put Yammark together for a while, so his control chip's in stasis. He wants to rebuild him with better defenses, and when we asked about the old body, Gate let us have it as a present." 

  
  


Bebop continued, "Since Gate had built Yammark's circuits using a design similar to Alia as a base, and with Alia's blueprints on file, we managed to jury-rig an interface system that Alia can use. It has fairly stealthy flying ability, as with those wings there aren't many heat emissions. Plus, we hook this into Alia's weapon circuits and she can generate drones with all the old sensor and ECM abilities, but with double the armor and three times the firepower, making them act as a defensive AND offensive weapon. And, as an added bonus due to the work you've been having us doing in training, a beam saber recharger pack on the back. What do you think of our little Yammark Option for Alia?"

  
  


Wolf said, "I'm amazed you managed to get this done in only a few days. Does it work?" The two cats glared in the near-darkness, amber eyes narrowed. "Sorry, of course it works. I suppose you want me to take this over to Alia with a beam saber?"

  
  


Jazz said, "Actually, we needed help lugging the thing through the halls successfully. It's a bit bulky. We could use your muscle. As for getting it together in two days... most of Yammark's non-critical systems, like his weapons and such, were intact. The fusion core was pretty much gone, but Alia has one of those. Repairing the armor was the worst part of the proposition. Luckily, Gate didn't need us very long for our part in the Vaccine. Iris and Zero were the ones mainly under the scanner." Jazz and Bebop grabbed sunglasses. People tended to freak out less when they appeared more human, which meant obscuring their eyes. Plus, they were out of armor and the hallway lights tended to be a bit much. 

  
  


Wolf nodded and grabbed the armor off its carrying rack. It was held together now by an EM field generated by power cells stored in the armor, making the armor almost appear to have an invisible user. While the effect made transport easy, it was creepy as all get out. The three quickly lugged it through the halls. Jazz grinned when she saw the lights shine off the armor. Alia would almost certainly love it, even if it wasn't a Light Capsule level improvement, but enhanced body armor was a sign of moving up through the world in the Hunters. The group quickly made it to Wolf and Alia's shared quarters, where the door was suddenly opened by a frantic Alia. 

  
  


"I've been trying to reach you two on the comm!" Alia practically wailed at Jazz and Bebop. They looked at each other sheepishly and realized they had shut it off for the night on the town. Alia paused, "What's that? Does Gate know you have his baby?" The three quickly explained the purpose of the gift and Alia's expression tightened. "Guys, I love it, but I think it's going to come in handy sooner than you thought. I managed to record most of the newsflash. See this." Alia triggered a small view screen in their quarters.

  
  


"-taking now to World Council headquarters in Geneva, where rumors circle about highly believable evidence citing the possibilities of a conspiracy in Hunter ranks. Fragmentary reports from the usual 'highly-placed' sources suggests that their may have been several Viral outbreaks within the Hunters' Tokyo Headquarters itself, but the outbreaks were covered up by Isoc, a Reploid in charge of the Hunters who is still under suspicion for the failure of his copy of the famed Blue Bomber roughly a month ago. There are also reports of Mavericks in the Amazon teleporting directly to Headquarters. We take you now to-" Alia cut off the view screen.

  
  


The four exchanged nervous glances. The Hunters knew they couldn't hide forever, but hoped to have enough to show for their efforts to redeem themselves. Time was up, and the Hunters had little to show but more treachery that had managed to uncover from within, and now was not a good time to be pointing out further weaknesses in the Hunter's security. And somewhere, Number One laughed as the death knell for the Hunters began to rang.

  
  


To be continued

  
  


Probably a there-part finale, similar to last time. Well, it had to happen. You can't run behind the backs of the people you report to forever. Quite a while, but not forever. Time to see how well the Hunters can roll with the punches. 

  
  


Alia gets an upgrade. Probably the weakest of X.5's 4 main characters, I thought she could use a boost, and no one was using the body.

  
  


The Amazon outbreak refers to Jazz and Bebop's ice sled ride about 3 parts back, with the mysterious activity in the Amazon control area.

  
  


Iris and Zero are both depressed, but on the other hand, they may have broken through Sigma's attempts at control to a great degree on each other, and they're feeling very vulnerable right now. The healing process is started. Hope they have enough time to finish it.

  
  


The ends don't always justify the means, but the Hunters main crimes here have been to move quickly and justly moving around idiotic bureaucratic procedure. Obviously, in this time line the Hunters took a lot of heat for the Repliforce War, but they were forced to respond due to the procedures in effect. The MMX continuity, where Reploids seem to lose either way...

  
  


Next time: We figure out more of what various apparently dropped plot threads are up to, and the Hunters struggle to redeem themselves. Meanwhile, it's time for the old Virus himself to start a few experiments with what the Hunters have been cooking up. 

  
  


The stage has been set for the Hunters. Time to see who dances.

  
  


Tremor3258, who is about to add 'Repliforce' to his spell-check dictionary, signing off.


	11. Hunter's Last Dance Part 2: Who Leads?

Mega Man X1.5

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Disclaimer: I don't own Mega Man X, Mega Man, Mega Man Battle Networks, etc., etc. Capcom does! This work is intended for enjoyment, not for profit. 

  
  


Last Dance of the Hunters: Part Two: Choosing your Partner

  
  


Two days after the initial announcement of the Viral information, morale at Hunters was at its lowest since Sigma had turned most of the Hunters, trashed the Headquarters, and announced that he was going to kill humanity for the sake of Reploids. Isoc was trying to handle the Public Relations end, but just when it seemed the crisis ended, another new point of information popped up.

  
  


"Isn't it true, Isoc, that the two Reploids in this photograph are the same as the Ancients found roughly a year ago, destroying much of a maintenance squad?" said a human reporter, "And is it not true that the Control Center lately started malfunctioning wildly and started a fire that nearly wiped out one of the most-repaired ecosystems on the planet?" The scene was played out on a view screen in the Hunter's cafeteria. One hundred Hunters, almost everyone off duty, and a few who weren't, was watching the drama play out. 

  
  


Signas groaned at the monitor, "I KNEW we forgot something. We were going to send someone to check the Control Center, but then Douglas attacked Headquarters, and we were too busy with setting up the Vaccine research to go check on Douglas's handiwork." 

  
  


X added grimly, "Don't forget that Yammark was tied into those computers, so if they did program something in, Douglas taking out Yammark probably took out the system as well." 

  
  


Zero groaned, "This isn't going to make Gate look very good if Isoc tries to pull the anti-Virus trump card, isn't it." Iris sat next to Zero, soaking up his presence, and the Crimson Hunter forced himself to calm down from the gentle pressure on his arm. X looked at Zero with a slight expression of worry. He obviously was in a bad mood due to the loss of the 'Ninja' Unit, which was perfectly understandable. Death was never easy, not even for the Crimson Hunter.

  
  


"Quiet!" growled Jazz, being a bit more brusque, in armor and hovering nervously in the air, as the Hunters were on standby alert status due to the situation, "Isoc's going to try and say something." 

  
  


"We detected a Maverick signature, and with much of our strength diverted, we were forced to use Jazz and Bebop, despite some questions remaining about certain irregularities in their scans. It should be noted that those are NOT computer diagnostic tools in the photograph. Those are high energy rifles, as Cain Lab and other analysis show." A few pictures flipped up behind Isoc. 

  
  


The Maverick Hunters let out a cheer. Isoc had a lot of mysteries, but the Hunters knew he was a heck of a speaker. Especially with some decent contingency planning, they may finally be holding their own. Most of them relaxed and headed off to do something less nerve-wracking, like prepare to face armies of Mavericks.

  
  


Jazz settled to the ground with a grace that was surprising considering how bulky she looked with a flight pack and said brightly to Zero, "We don't have training duty for a few hours, so Bebop and I were going to head outside? Care to come? We'd invite X but technically he's supposed to be overseeing repairs, so we'll make it more of a family thing." 

  
  


Zero seemed to be a bit uneasy about it, but Jazz was insistent, and finally, Zero, with a nod from Iris, agreed, though as the group wandered through the HQ dome, Zero kept muttering warning about Frisbees. Iris looked in between the two, with something approaching a grin on her face. The two seemed very different, but that was mainly a matter of body language and construction. Jazz was done up in sandy earth colors, despite claims she had originally matched Zero's color scheme, and was a bit shorter than Zero, as was Bebop to his slightly older brother. Jazz definitely looked like a combat model as well, what with her obvious armor and jetpack. Zero looked more like a slightly reinforced dancer. Plus, Zero had pale skin and green eyes, while Jazz had a slightly dusky color as well as brown eyes. No one could say they were related, but with Reploids, similarities were usually buried more than skin deep.

  
  


************************

  
  


"Let me get this straight. This cat-bot here, who incidentally, doesn't match your construction in almost any respect except maybe a bit of cat ears in both your helmet designs, is your prototype model and sister," Iris said quietly to them in their quarters several hours after Douglas's destruction. 

After the rush with Douglas, the various cats, who hadn't been through the Repliforce war, unlike most of the other Reploids, whether Hunters or not at the time, had been eager to learn more about this strange skirted figure. The rather preposterous claims from the two, who seemed to be made of smoke the way they moved silently and to a set of directions all their own, had caught Iris by surprise, as she was SURE that Zero hadn't had any relatives when she had last known him. As soon as they reached Zero's quarters, Iris had confronted him about it.

  
  


Zero was surprised by the reaction. She had barely reacted out in the hall, but as Zero spent more time thinking about it, it made sense. Iris was probably scared out of her mind, despite reassurances, including those from Isoc and Gate, that she was apparently stable. Zero shrugged, "Listen, Jazz has got enough stories about me under construction to keep the Ninth Unit busy through every holiday part imaginable. Jazz sat down one day recently, and managed to come up with a working, 20 centimeter high Gemini Man with only a little help from Bebop to put it together," Iris smiled at that, and Zero thought it was silly too. Jazz had wanted something so she didn't have to dust, and created the insta-clone Gemini man. It was too small to rig a fusion generator into, so Jazz had rigged a plasma feed off her recharge bed to keep it running. It was a useful conversation starter, and a helpful little drone, rigged even with a Gemini Laser system to 'deal with bugs'.

  
  


Zero continued, "and Bebop's produced plans for every support animal known. Those plans DON'T exist. There's little record of them, but Light kept the whole X project under wraps, and Wily didn't have press conferences, and they've proved themselves in battle several times. For that matter, Light gave both of them upgrades. Partly because their minds would have dissolved into mush without them, but he doesn't even give ME upgrades, and I've been a Hunter just as long as X." Zero mock-pouted, and Iris's lips quirked into a smile for a moment. 

  
  


Zero's design was too different for the capsules to do a lot for, and it had taken Jazz and Bebop's auto-repair systems several hours to finish adjusting the armor into something usable. Besides, Zero didn't especially want upgrades. He kept up with the opposition fine on his own abilities and skills. Sigma had definitely upgraded his mobile power since his last destruction, but Zero was confident if Sigma gave him the chance, Zero would chop the next body into so much scrap metal.

  
  


"Well if you're sure. I mean, what is it with the Hunters and attracting mysterious Reploids with no pasts?" Iris asked, "Sigma bragged about Double, and I think my retort worked, because he stomped off," Iris closed her eyes and recited, "They'll always be able to tell your spies, because they have picture perfect pasts." Zero winced, until he saw Iris was giggling slightly. Zero grinned broadly, it was the first time he had seen her laugh since his revival, and joined in, letting his problems drop away for a moment.

  
  


**********************

"That stupid, status-quo keeper has proven very resourceful," Number One mused as he examined various inputs. Isoc had managed to keep things fairly even for the time being. The Maverick Hunters had been at extreme measures, but the fact they had stopped the final Skull Fortress suggested that such measures had been necessary. After all, as Isoc was quick to remind the public, the Hunters had nearly taken out the fortress before it activated.

  
  


"So, obviously, the trick is to remove Isoc from the equation. Hmm, it may be time to renew my contact with Number Two, even if he still sulking." Number One quickly brought up his most secret connection.

  
  


It took several minutes for anyone to answer, but soon, the digitally altered voice of Sigma snapped, "Yes? I'm a little busy here. The Hunters seem to have found a way to defeat my Virus, and I'm busy experimenting." 

  
  


"I can do better than that, my ally," said Number One, "After all, Zero's current data signals would come in a great help, yes?" 

  
  


"You're offering me something," Sigma said warily, "You must be desperate. After all, the Hunters aren't quite being burned in effigy like you wanted them to be, are they?"

  
  


"None of that now," Number One almost snapped. He would not lose his calm to Sigma. After all, Sigma's plans were laid out well enough to the point Sigma could usually claim a partial victory, but his elusive goal of banding together Reploids under his flag failed time and again. Number One continued more equitably, "Are you familiar with a piece of equipment known as a DNA Soul Eraser chip?" Sigma paused in astonishment. The Eraser chip had the ability to transfer, remotely, the personality matrix and control chip patterns that made up a Reploid's mind into a storage unit. The patterns were nicknamed DNA after the helical shape the data signals had graphically, Sigma had once used an attempt to gather various Reploid researchers to him to improve the Virus. Unfortunately, his associates had gotten ... overenthusiastic and used the chip too often, calling down the wrath of X. Number One now had a slight bit of bloodlust in his voice, "Why settle for breaking the lock and sieging the walls when you can get the lord's keys to the castle?" 

  
  


***********************

  
  


Isoc had two Hunters, rather junior, but full-scale Class B Hunters, assigned as bodyguard as part of his duties as head of Cain Labs, and Chief Administrator of the Hunters, whenever there was at least a standby alert. His knowledge of access codes was limited within Hunter HQ, but Cain Labs was one technological treasure house for anyone trying to outfit themselves with, and even beyond the various prototypes, Cain Labs' technical database was among the best in the world, and their library had some of the original copies of information the LAST great revolution in robotics, the design theories and some blueprints from Drs. Light and Wily's initial nine humanoid robots. 

  
  


So, though Cain Labs was protected by Hunters, so was its head. As Isoc hurried along the streets to reach his apartment, he was preoccupied with various matters. Budget discussions for the Hunters were coming up, and the Hunters needed extra money if they were going to be training and outfitting new staff. 

  
  


Isoc was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize when two shurikens came flying out of the shadows of an alleyway, slamming into the Hunters. These carried a charge to temporarily immobilize the victim once the outer hall was penetrated. Taken completely by surprise, the two Reploids stiffened into immobility for a moment. Suddenly, a golden energy beam wrapped around Isoc, who yelped once before being pulled into the shadows. "Hello Isoc. There's someone who would like a chat with you," said the Reploid who had grabbed him. A tall black armored figure with flowing white hair, Dynamo didn't know exactly why who had hired him. But as a bounty hunter, many of Dynamo's clients had similar requests of secrecy. Still, all Dynamo had to do was attach a small data structure to Isoc's forehead, and then wait for the Reploid to be teleported away. In a white flash of energy, Isoc's structure dissolved to energy, shooting up into the sky. After a moment, Dynamo's pay arrived: a set of credit chits to untraceable accounts, and one of the latest discoveries in weaponry: a beam staff, capable of emitting a beam saber blade from either end. "Now to go about getting some techniques into you," Dynamo murmured, testing the blades quickly before teleporting away. He would work on the blade later. No point to stay around for those Hunters to wake up, when he had money to spend and a new toy to play with.

  
  


*************************

  
  


Despite the cloud the Hunters were under, the parklands surrounding the sparkling silver dome of HQ itself were as busy as ever. It was a beautiful early summer day in Tokyo, and crowds were out enjoying it. Kites flew, and a few battled, along with some people sketching, walking or talking. Oh yes, and frisbees. 

  
  


Jazz and Bebop had armed themselves with some of the best of their massive arsenal in preparation for going outside, and had switched to street clothes with T-shirts and jeans. Despite

the spring wear looking a little odd in the heat, the two didn't have exactly perfect copies of human bodies, with several small silver ports on their torsos and legs that fed to dash thrusters or controls for the former adapter units with their armor. If the two wore loose clothing, then the biggest comment would be their eyes, for which they had sunglasses.

  
  


Zero didn't bother so much about those things, and had his heavy chest armor removed and a thin T-shirt on, took one look at the discs strapped to belts, held in each hand, under the arms, and even one each on top of their head. "No," Zero said simply and stared at them. After a moment, the two groaned, and turned around. They'd probably have thrown up their hands except for the loss of frisbees. The two cats quickly deposited them and returned. When they arrived back in the hall, they discovered Iris had arrived, and switched from her usual uniform, which was equipped with a bit of armor, to a tank top and shorts for some park activities. 

  
  


Jazz surveyed her for a moment and snapped her fingers gleefully. "Alia owes me three hour's pay! I KNEW it wasn't just the uniform." Iris blushed slightly and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Jazz lazily wrapped an arm around Bebop, "Oh relax. I'm not jealous. Considering that I'm possibly the first female robot Wily had built since Roll, I'm glad I could at least look pass for human." Something flashed across the ancients' eyes, but Iris didn't seem to notice the words left unspoken before I was infected and mutated. People made cat Reploids, cat Reploids with some humanoid features, and human Reploids. They didn't typically make a humanoid Reploid with cat features, so even among Reploids with the infinity of design, things were bizarre. Jazz lightened up when she thought of the excursion. Humans were notoriously bad about noticing small details, and as long as they were careful and didn't call attention to Zero's leg armor, they could pass for a human double date.The quartet set off.

  
  


*********************

  
  


"Okay, Gate. Talk to me. How bad is it?" X had his arms crossed and sat in a chair inside the laboratory they were using to test the Vaccine program on innocent Metools. Zero got to go off duty and have a good time, and had been gone for an hour or so now, but X had work to do. Gate had been busy locking himself out of their voice-recognition circuits, so the tireless workers should refuse to obey him. However, upon hearing an order, the Mets had jumped to it. When gate had disabled their aural receptors, the little hard-hatted workers had seemed to sag down after a few minutes with no one telling them what to do, and were acting listless, bizarre for little drones. 

  
  


Gate shrugged, "Well, considering pretty much everyone with some basic coding skill and a knowledge of where a Metool's input jack is can reprogram them, this isn't telling us a lot. I've tried putting conflicting orders into the programs to try and stimulate a Viral attack, but the Met's ignoring them. It's also ignoring every attempt to limit its behavior to accept orders, but that could be improved diagnostics. I'm still not sure what I have. I've been so stone-walled that Alia needing me to tweak her new battle costume's response circuits was a relief, and that's mind-numbingly dull and painstaking work." X nodded. Jazz and Bebop had done a good job, but there was some feedback that was basically causing Alia to itch. Gate had taken a break and fixed it quickly. 

  
  


There were other technicians working on the project, so Gate could get a rest as needed, or take a small break and get a bite to eat. He usually didn't, as he seemed to live on energy capsules alone, which most Reploids only used when they needed a quick boost, and ignore more human niceties. X could understand that thinking, but most Reploids got taste sensors equipped merely to make it easier to fit into human society, and cause less fear. But then, Gate was an oddball. However, he was also one of the best troubleshooters X had ever seen in his life, and that was saying a lot. 

  
  


Right now, the problem was to try and create a Vaccine when possession of the guarding material was an instant death sentence for any Reploid caught with it. So, Gate was trying to iron out the definite programming defects in the system, and then install it in some Reploids and see if they went Maverick or not. 

  
  


It was cold-blooded, but not as cold-blooded as what the Vaccine was based on. The warrior trance that the Reploids whose personality patterns Gate had based the Vaccine's primary structure on described was a bit chilling to X. Seeing the world in such cold terms, especially with the seeming loss of emotions and higher thought processes, put them in the unique situation of seeing what the Maverick Virus was probably like without hunting down humans. Then again, X thought they might take down a human who got in their way in those special modes. X thanked his lucky stars that Light hadn't ever given him something similar, and then X reflected that Jazz and Bebop's problems might have had something to do with it.

  
  


"I'll thank them later," X decided. Gate looked up, and X then realized he had thought out loud. "Nothing much. Just a personal matter. So it's possible we either have really strong-willed Mets, or absolutely no-willed Mets, and our test cases return the same result?" Gate nodded. X stretched and said, "I'm going to go see about the Units reorganizations. If you can figure out if we've got a slave program for Reploids or not, send a runner up at any time. This lab still isn't on our new communication network." Gate nodded in response and X wandered out the door. 

  
  


He didn't get very far when the operator on duty at the Hunter communication console called X, "Commander! We have a problem! Isoc's guards were immobilized and then he disappeared! We can't track the teleportation signal at all!" wailed the officer.

  
  


X snapped over his radio, "We're now on full alert. See if you can get some of the orbital stations to try and add us some sensor coverage. Recall all Hunters, and have armory prep my armor set. Send some Cain Labs people to check the guards. On second thought, send any Hunters in the immediate area to sweep for clues, call the police in, and see if we can find someone who can break the news to the public." 

  
  


****************************

It had been a lovely walk. Jazz was gnawing on some teriyaki chicken she had begged Bebop into buying for her, and the four really just made their way aimlessly through the area, enjoying the chance to be outdoors and away from the constant war for awhile. Enough Reploids were scattered throughout the park as well as to make their presence not to noticeable. Zero's heavier leg armor hinted at more advanced capabilities, but not enough to instantly peg him as a Hunter, so the four were able to enjoy a bit of anonymity. 

  
  


"Jazz! Bebop!" Alia suddenly shouted over their radios. The group had been keeping them open due to the Hunters' alert status, and winced at the sudden noise. Alia quickly explained the situation, and finished with, "Since the Ninth has the best integrity right now, we've been tapped to do some perimeter work, keep people from messing up the scene."

  
  


"Right," said Bebop, "We've got Zero and Iris here too. Should they come along or head back?" 

  
  


Alia seemed to be discoursing slightly beyond pickup range with someone and said, "No one thought to ask Zero yet because we're going down the active Unit checklist. He should probably check this out. Where are you, anyway?" Bebop quickly explained their location, probably near Alia's head if she was in one of the operations centers. Alia's voice got tinged with bitterness for a moment, "That must have been nice," It was impossible for Wolf to quite hide exactly what he was, but Alia's professionalism soon crept back into her voice, "Come on, get moving! We need to secure the area!"

  
  


*********************

  
  


About five minutes later, the quartet were blocking off a street to hover and regular vehicles. Alia was staying at ground level for now, sending her new improved dragonfly drones out to act as traffic signals to get everyone out of the way. "I really do wonder how the two make it look so easy," Alia muttered. Suddenly having the mental connection to four individually operated wings wasn't as easy as the flight mode Jazz and Bebop used, and even Alia's multi-tasking was a bit stretched to handle what was essentially an extra set of limbs. Considering she'd only had the armor for a few days, she was making good progress, but she was officially considered a flight hazard for the time being.

  
  


Several blocks inside the cordon of police and Hunter troops, Zero was searching around the alleyway. The two Hunters weren't much help, as Isoc had been managed to be taken in under the ten seconds it took the two Reploids' systems to recover from the jolt. Lifesaver had examined them and pronounced them fit for duty, and was currently going over the shuriken with the help of some Cain Labs staff.

  
  


Zero, with Iris in tow, had checked the alleyway and had taken only a moment to picture exactly how the battle, if you could call it such, flowed, with a human adjutant taking notes. Zero stood and pointed in the middle of the alleyway, and looked at a slight depression. "Judging by the marks in the dust, Isoc was dragged here, and if Lifesaver would get a shuriken, I could tell exactly where he was standing. Have you checked the teleporter trail?" 

  
  


"We've got people working on it, but whoever it was did a good job of hiding their tracks. There was an a shuttle right overhead, and it obscured the trail with its heat from reentry. It's taking a while to try and isolate a teleport pattern. Lifesaver set up the echoes from the teleport in the area, and we're working on it, and we're trying to back trace the manufacturer of those shuriken. It's slow going. If it's going to be some nifty weapon designed to disable opponents, ninety percent of designers make it look like its from the old ninja clans." Zero nodded. Unit 0 was nicknamed Shinobi, after the old term for ninjas, and they were ALWAYS being approached for product endorsements, as they had real live ninjas. Reploid ones, but ninjas nonetheless. Zero simply placed it on the 'Things I'll Never Understand About Civilians" mental checklist and moved on.

  
  


"All right. Finish up, take everything to the lab for analysis. We'll be pulling ever data feed we can to figure out what's going on. I suppose this means X is in charge, poor bastard. I'll report back in, you finish containment," Zero ordered, before heading over to Iris standing near th edge of the alleyway and then teleporting out in a flare of light.

  
  


***********************

  
  


"Track my teleporter?" murmured Number One, "You and what super-scientist?" Number One patted the tiny piece of circuitry that his associate's underlings had dropped off. Dealing with them had been a hassle, decided Number One. They obviously wanted to rip much of the staff to bits, but at least Sigma was getting better about keeping people in line. "Well, mustn't keep the guest waiting any longer." Number One opened his connection to Isoc for the first time on a secure channel, and prepared to enjoy this.

  
  


"Oh, no!" laughed Number One, "Poor Isoc, the good Reploid Doctor has gone missing. And at the worse possible time for the Hunters." Isoc, tied up with coils of energy, and his vocal synthesizer disabled, glared at the image piped into his cell. "Shame on you Isoc! You've done a marvelous job disabling each of the time bombs the Maverick Hunters have left for themselves. There may be a bit of stain on their reputation, and they would probably simply receive a mere warning to curb their enthusiasm. I'm afraid, dear boy, that's not good enough."

  
  


Number One turned to face the monitor, "Obviously, any program eventually has a counter found, and Sigma's time is about up. That's why he's been holed up and playing the behind the scenes manipulator, something that isn't in his nature but he seems to have discovered a knack for. So, he gets the Hunters to fight his allies, rather than send out the horde of raging Mavericks he's been carefully developing. Poor Sigma's looking to upgrade the Virus, and its too complex for him to be able to do so."

  
  


"But, Sigma realized there are a few Reploids who possess the ability to increase their own parameters over time. X would probably destroy himself rather than be infected, but luckily, there is another Reploid with the original strength of the circuit design. Zero's power, if exposed to the Virus, wouldn't be content to increase at its usual slow rate, instead Zero would upgrade himself to the maximum potential power, a weapon that literally would raze the land!" Number One paused for a moment to calm himself down.

  
  


"So, Sigma, naturally, rushes right in and tries the Maverick Virus on a Reploid that was already partially infected. As usual, Sigma got overeager and pushed too fast, meaning Zero now has a great deal more strength available without that delightful temper. So, Isoc, I do know that your team managed to replicate much of what we're trying for with Zero. A delightful temper, leading to insane amounts of strength. And now that my partner has FINALLY come through with his little piece of technology, you're going to tell me EVERYTHING." Isoc twisted futilely as a humanoid figure, Isoc wasn't sure if it was Reploid or biological, quickly pointed a small device at him. Then everything was darkness.

  
  


********************

  
  


The next day, Lancer had taken his Ninth out to the Amazon to do a search. Lancer, frankly, was glad to stretch his wings. He didn't spend a lot of time at Headquarters, and not much more time in the quick-response outposts the Hunters maintained. He was definitely an outdoors type. Still, the area he flew over wasn't the best piece of the outdoors he had ever seen. Mavericks had tapped into the Amazon Outpost and used the weather control systems to torch the area, as part of the continuing plot to vanquish the Hunters. Thus, this area was one of the first to be carefully examined, as even if Isoc wasn't found, there may be Mavericks.

  
  


Lancer winced at that. It had been the Ninth's job normally to watch out for this sort of thing. His Unit was mainly a Unit for administrative purposes, generally consisting of fast, lightly armed loners whose job was to watch for trouble, yell for help, and keep the Mavericks busy until the big guns arrived. However, now the Ninth was in the best shape of any Unit, as they were trained to dance around enemies stronger and better armed, but slower than them. So, now the Unit of Maverick Hunters whose job was mainly to guard, now were the temporary premier attack unit of the Hunters. It was a mind-boggling abrupt change for Lancer. 

  
  


Still, with Sigma apparently laying low, the Ninth had been at least called to do their specialty work of finding their way through rough terrain. The search for Isoc was on, and Lancer was wondering why they hadn't tagged the scientist with something to make it easier. Cain's body was fragile, and drugs or torture would probably cause him to collapse or go into shock. Thus, no one had really tried for Cain, since they figured he'd be dead before they'd get any use out of him. And, people had gotten so used to Cain having some sort of invulnerability shield that protected him from Maverick attacks, that no one thought Isoc would be a different case. 

  
  


A spark of light alerted the bat-like Reploid's attention for a moment before he relaxed. Alia was definitely one of his best troopers, calm under fire and innovative, but she hadn't been built with the reflex programs that allowed a Reploid to maneuver with wings, like Lancer, and Jazz and Bebop's jetpack systems had literally been built alongside them, with a semi-autonomous control module that allowed simple movement commands to be turned into precisely judged bursts of thrust. Though they had seemed to have something planned today, different with their jetpacks, as they had spent a few careful moments checking the adapters.

  
  


Alia, on the other hand, handled like a drunken bumblebee in a hurricane, to put it politely. Jazz and Bebop had gotten her new armor working perfectly with some help from Gate, but unfortunately they had been intending her to get some training time. Alia, however, felt the extra firepower would come in handy while they were on alert status, and kept trying out the flying systems. Lancer wondered if he had been that bad in the hazy first few days after activation. 

  
  


Meanwhile, Alia, of all people, rang up Lancer on his communicator. "Something's ... not quite right about the area up ahead. The energy scans don't quite line up, and the satellite photography's a bit off." Lancer thought that over. The Amazon offered excellent cover from most forms of detection, with heavy canopy and plenty of additional heat sources. Alia, however, could take a picture from multiple points of view, thanks to her drones, and mos t shielding systems tended to have anomalies if you compared the same spot from two directions. If the Mavericks had uncovered something that wasn't authorized in this area. 

  
  


"Nice work Alia. Keep flying ahead normally. Well, as normally as possible," Lancer grinned as a bitter retort got snapped back. His grin grew wider with some fangs into it. The Ninth didn't have a lot of heavy firepower, but if someone thought they could get away with something under his snout, they were in for a surprise. "All right. Tell Jazz and Bebop to put their jets to good use. You've all got ice weapons, so use them. Try to make it look like you're putting down hot spots, and I'll be along shortly."

  
  


Lancer noticed two more light specks join the air, and started pushing himself forward. The small, blue flecks of the ice special weapons weren't visible at this range, but Lancer was sure the group could put down a decent holding pattern. Lancer took advantage of the spotter system the Hunters had installed by bugging HQ into rounding up his unit, rather than having him call each squad leader individually. Soon, over forty Reploids were converging on the disharmonious location. Lancer's sensors picked up the energy flare as plasma cannon hungered upwards, and Lancer's grin grew much more feral. 

  
  


"Where does everyone keep getting all this artillery?" Jazz demanded as she launched a missile set off. Six concealed, high-wattage plasma cannon had revealed themselves when the ice had splashed against a holographic shield. Now those barrels quested hungrily after the Reploids, and Bebop was content only to dodge for the time being, though he had equipped the charged version of his kinetic lance, which put up a force shield around him. There was a limit to what it could take, but it kept the near-misses from singing him at all. Alia's lightning gun wasn't much good against the military-level hardened circuitry, but the fact her drone's now carried plasma cannon meant that one of the barrels was half-melted through from repeated stings.

  
  


"I don't know. I always assumed that there's some off-world colony having a fire sale on old meteor busters or something," Bebop said. This didn't seem Maverick, there would be drones along with the cannon. Bebop thought for a moment and then shouted into his communicator, "Lancer! Get an anti-teleport shield out here NOW! These weapons can only delay us momentarily!" A moment later, a small device dropped down off to the side of the base. The cannon fire picked up a tempo, seeming almost angry.

  
  


Except there was a fourth member of the squad. Alia didn't quite trust herself to use her new beam saber AND fly at the same time, and suddenly setting down could spawn a new problem from the bunker or possibly get her electrified. Laser Wolf, however, had been working his way towards the base, and quickly air dashed onto the side of the bunker, before leaping through the air and igniting his saber. The brilliant blue blade left an arcing ionized trail behind it, an all too real afterimage. When it struck the cannon, the blade slit its way through the cannon's outer shell for a moment, and Wolf hung there, suspended by the powerful field keeping the saber's plasma intact.

  
  


However, saber power cells are only good for a second or so before they have to be recharged, hence recharge packs on armor. The large Reploid looked up as he heard the hiss of air filling the space that only shortly before contained hot plasma. "Please don't let there be a spike trap when I look down," muttered Wolf to himself. He sighed with relief when he saw merely ground, and he was able to easily take the multi-story drop on his hydraulics. Putting the falling time to good use, Wolf had charged up his direct laser system and carved a thin red line in another barrel.

  
  


Alia, still dodging all over the place, managed to fire a bolt of electricity that ground itself in the slash Wolf had left in Cannon Number One. The cannon's mouth exploded with a shower of sparks and it drooped downward to the lowest limit of its maneuverability, silent. Alia tried a similar trick to Cannon Number Two, but Wolf had only damaged the outer layer and the electricity grounded itself out harmlessly. Jazz, however, fired her giga attack into the weak point, and the massive stream of energy cut the cannon in half, the barrel falling to the ash-covered forest floor with an earth-shaking boom. Wolf winced. That hadn't been entirely necessary, and though Jazz was carrying a full load of Hunter-made heart tanks, she could only carry two sub-tanks, and Wolf doubted that with her short range technique system not requiring weapon energy, she'd be carrying a weapons sub-tank. 

  
  


Bebop grimaced. Alia, Wolf, and Jazz had managed to take out one for each of them, but he'd been playing the Reploid target decoy. Plus, his adapter system couldn't keep him up for more than about five minutes, and his time was running out. Of course, there was a nifty feature most people didn't realize about Jazz and Bebop's dash engines. Specifically, besides normal ground-dashed, they also had the airborne version. They didn't use it a lot since they had full-borne flight capabilities, but it did have some uses, like adjusting your falling pattern when the thrusters ran dry.

  
  


Bebop waited until the thrusters ran out, as his companions continued hammering away at the other cannons. He cut the shield out as he fell, and then air-dashed, using his claws to snag a cannon and pull himself on top, before cheerfully unloading with his lasers. Unlike Wolf's, which were pure light, Bebop's used a hybrid system that put a small ion beam in the center, doing more damage, and he quickly managed to cut through the side wall of the cannon. Bebop quickly started to run down the barrel. He doubted the cannon could fire at each other, and he was in a good position to deal with the other two. Unfortunately, the cannon was about to fire, and plasma erupted through the gap Bebop had created. The cannon hadn't been built to take that kind of stress, and with the screech of tearing metal, the canon collapsed, split in half near the base. 

  
  


Bebop had managed to take to the air, and using the limited recharge on his thrusters, landed on the ground amid the splinters and small fires the super-hot plasma had ignited rather sheepishly. Alia said pointedly over the communicator, "That's why I didn't try that, you know." Bebop shrugged.

  
  


Lancer, however, had finally reached position over head on his wings of night. Lancer quickly spat out his attack as a dark cloud of mist that settled over one of the cannon. The cannon promptly made a noise like it was firing, but all that happened was that the mist dissolved. "Who wants to bet I can keep an energy drain over their cannon mouths faster than they can blow them off?" Lancer asked rhetorically, spitting off more shots. He also had a small plasma cannon built into the tip of each wing, but he couldn't use both at once. Still, it was possible that all they were facing were automated defenses, as no one had come out to fight them, and those heavy cannon seemed more ready to deal with airships and tanks rather than quick, agile Reploids. It was entirely possible that the anti-teleport shield generator had arrived too late. Lancer shook his head to focus his thoughts. Break bunker first, recriminations and questions later. 

  
  


With more Reploids arriving, and the cannon's firepower nullified, the rest were destroyed quite quickly. Alia, on solid ground, managed to isolate a hidden door in the side of the bunker, and two rodent-like Reploids quickly applied small explosives and blew the door softly out of its frame from a safe distance. Lancer quickly moved forward, and suddenly stiffened into immobility and fell backwards, a large, probably six-pronged shuriken sticking from his torso with energy crackling over it and circuitry faintly glowing within. 

  
  


The Ninth wasn't even given time to blink before more shuriken started flying out of the darkened doorway. Prepped and ready for action, the Ninth started firing, but there weaponry had been charged and ready for the doorway. Several small explosions lit the area with a flash, as whatever had been launching them seemed to be destroyed. That still left the projectiles to be dealt with. Several Reploids stiffened into immobility as their systems were overridden for a moment. Wolf had his beam saber ready, and quickly slashed it through the air in a wide arc. The delicate internal wiring of the shuriken was melted beyond repair, so even though the mighty Reploid was punctured several times, a bit of the energy transfer fluid/lubricant that made up Reploid blood oozing out, but he remained on his feet.

  
  


Alia's armor had generated a double-sized cloud of drones for preparation of a barrage coming out of the door. She couldn't maintain power to more than three for more than about ten seconds, but during that period, she could use them to block and launch more plasma. Now, they took up a few shuriken, but the rotating drones left a gap that allowed one to catch itself in her arm. A small spray of red went out before the projectile activated itself, dropping Alia to the ground amid a cloud of dragonflies. 

  
  


Jazz and Bebop, nerves on edge, had their stress levels moved high enough to trigger the Shadow Armor when Lancer had suddenly fallen. With minds operating on an irrational level above fear, the two launched off a small squadron of missiles and the combined energy output of all four of Bebop's cannon. When that disabled only a few, as the shuriken's speed meant the tracking devices on the missiles, designed for larger targets, flew past and then tried gamely to auto-correct, the two reached behind their backs and each withdrew a cylinder with a cross-guard from apparently underneath their adapters. Operating at speeds impressive for even a Reploid, the cylinders emitted a brilliant beam of plasma, Bebop's green and Jazz's red. The two drew the sabers through an arc, slicing through the shuriken with enough force to get their circuitry to overload and explode. The sabers cut out as the two closed their eyes, armor lightening to their usual shades.

  
  


The tableau held for a moment, singed and broken shuriken lying on the ground amid paralyzed Reploids. About eight had managed to dodge or luckily shoot their way through the cloud. Wolf gaped at the two cats. They had been nearly behind Lancer and in the densest portion of the salvo, but the two had come through completely unscathed. Wolf's professional training caught up with him, and he quickly told Headquarters to bring in a medical team. The Reploids were stirring, but it would probably be awhile before they were fully on line. Leaving behind a member who had gotten a shrapnel shard in a leg servomotor, crippling his agility, to watch the downed team members, the other seven moved in. There was nothing immediately inside the door, and the group spread out to cover each as they walked in slowly.

  
  


Bebop said over his shoulder in a hushed whisper, "Thanks for those sabers, Wolf. They came in handy. Of course, that was the one swipe we got, as we're going to have to get them recharged back at HQ. Nice little desperation move, huh?" Bebop said in a too-light tone. Wolf had noted the two always seemed overly cheerful after using those Armor modes, as if trying to convince themselves their emotions were back. Still, the sabers were fairly useless cylinders that had gotten stowed back on the undersides of their adapter systems. Beam sabers were too delicate to be recharged off just any random power source, as their containment fields had to be adapted to match an individual plasma generator's frequency precisely, or else Wolf would have used his recharger for the hilts for a moment. 

  
  


The hallway into the bunker was deserted. No cannon emerged or anything. In fact, everything was dead quiet, and except for the lights, everything was off. Still, after the recent experience of Unit 0, everyone was on guard, with people watching all directions as they moved cautiously. Kicking in doors and jumping backwards, before peering in, busters leading before heads. It took about forty-five minutes to reach what was probably the farthest area away from the door, as even the Control Center had been mainly shut down and deactivated, though Wolf had cut through every power cable the Hunters could find as a precaution. Meanwhile, the revived Hunters watched from outside, reinforced with other Hunters who could be spared while they were on a skeleton crew.

  
  


The last room Wolf kicked the door down to, as he had the best armor, merely contained Isoc, held with energy bonds to a chair. "Thank goodness you made it!" the researcher cried, "They were going after access codes to the Hunter mainframe!"

  
  


"Doesn't everyone have those by now?" Jazz muttered, before Bebop silenced her with a quick kick. 

Wolf quickly called Lancer waiting outside, "Disable the anti-teleport shield. We've found Isoc, of all people! Get a medical team in here." The squad leader then asked, "Do you know who they were? Or where there base was? We can send a team. Most of the Ninth is recovered by now from that last trap." 

  
  


Isoc shook his head, "Standard mix of Reploids, possibly a few humans. I didn't have a lot of chances to tell." Isoc struggled for a moment with his restraints, "Could someone help me with these, please?"

  
  


Bebop shrugged, and grabbed one of Isoc's arms to steady him as he extended his claws. "Hold very still, this may jolt," he warned, before slicing through the force field bonds. Sparks traveled up both their arms for a second, and Isoc used that opportunity to twist around with his other arm and slam Bebop in the face.

  
  


The Hunters gawked for a moment as Bebop went stumbling backwards. Isoc merely grinned as confused and afraid, Bebop shifted over to his enhanced mode. Isoc, meanwhile appeared to be counting to himself, and holding his belt. Once Bebop's armor had darkened, he launched himself forward, firing off a few ice blasts to restrain his prey before destroying it. Isoc, however, had apparently been anticipating it and teleported away as the shotgun ice spread out to cover the far wall. Bebop paused for a moment, and Jazz quickly grabbed his arm before Bebop reacted to a being surrounded by a group pointing weapons in his direction. 

  
  


As Bebop was regaining hold on his senses, Wolf was barking, "We've got a situation Lancer! Get the teleport that just came out of here tracked and we may need a medical crew for Bebop. I'm not sure what energy level he's at, and Isoc may have hit him with something." Lancer gave startled acknowledgment. 

  
  


Alia's voice came over the communicators next. "You don't need to bother guys. Nothing much happening out here and Lancer didn't want me flying, so I was watching a news channel. Isoc just demanded entry to a meeting of the World Council. He says he discovered something about the Hunters while imprisoned. Try channel 28." 

  
  


The Hunters quickly tapped the global communication net as they held in the area, waiting to see if the teleport had happened there. Most of the time, an image was projected upon the Reploid's 'retina', a small square box overlaying the view of the outside world. 

  
  


Isoc had walked up to a microphone before the arrayed Council, seated in horseshoe-shaped tables around a central holographic projector and before a podium where Isoc stood. He limped slightly, but his voice was strong as he spoke, "Council members, I bring you dire news. As most of you know, I was captured approximately yesterday by my internal clock by unknown forces. However, I saw something there all of you should know." Isoc pushed a few buttons on the monitor, and Bebop and Jazz hissed as their pictures appeared, with schematics.

  
  


"These two Reploids are designated Bebop and Jazz, and as some of you might guess from the naming convention, are products of the two great roboticists of the last era. However, as I was escaping from captivity, I was accosted by an all-black Reploid, who I believe to be familiar to me. I'm downloading the footage now." A shot was shown of Bebop coldly firing ice blasts. "Though I managed to dodge him, I also managed to grab some schematics from the memory banks of the base. These are partial, but damning." The schematics to Bebop's arm assembly and weapon system floated in mid air, and after a moment, Bebop's main schematic appeared and floated over, with a near-perfect match. 

  
  


"He also nearly grabbed me on the arm during the search, and if you do a scan, you should find deactivated nanomachines there similar to the Maverick Virus. I believe now that the current Viral research being preformed by the Hunters is an outgrowth of the plan to increase Hunter strength by disabling much of their personality. I called out to Bebop, but he definitely didn't stop his attacks even if he did recognize me. If this isn't so, I challenge Bebop to find his way within the next five minutes, which should get him here accounting for warp times from anywhere on the planet, and present himself for examination." 

  
  


"Well, off you go!" said Wolf urgently. Something was happening, but immediate damage control before ripping Isoc's fusion tank out.

  
  


Bebop shook his head, "It's no good. If I warp from here, someone will call a quick couple of Maverick signatures in the area to the Council's attention. Even if that wasn't the case, I'm COVERED in nanos that most scanners mistake for the Maverick Virus from my Armor. How did they break Isoc like that so fast?" Bebop wondered. No one could give an answer. 

  
  


"Time's running out, Bebop. You should really get over here, unless you've got something to hide," taunted something that almost certainly wasn't Isoc.

  
  


*******************

  
  


Number One watched in satisfaction as HQ and the Council dissolved into chaos as the ultimatum ticked down. He chuckled, "Shame on you Bebop for losing your composure from one lousy punch. Still, it made things so much easier, getting a current scan of at least some of your most interesting blueprints, as well as a sample of those Shadow nanos." It had definitely been worth the loss of that research station, Number One decided. His operatives had done a good job removing all identifying remarks, and it was unlikely the Hunters would have time for a thorough search any time soon, and the quick Amazonian vegetation would make it more difficult if anything had been missed. 

  
  


Now, he had that last great gift of Dr. Wily, probably at least partially unintentional, as well as most of the access to the Cain Labs database, which more codes being decoded from Isoc's chips as time went on. Number One reached forward and triggered the operative who was controlling Isoc's shell, "Keep things moving. I've got one last thing to nail the Hunters with, and it should all be over if the current plans I'm reading are right." 

  
  


Number One patted the folder on his desk affectionately. Listed across the top was a date from about a year and a half ago, the signatures of Cain, Gate, and Isoc, and a simple title. It was one of the little off-shoots of the attempts to get Iris's two personality sections to function together. Gate had innocently created some integration technology to try and allow remote access into a Reploid's patterns, trying to hack the two sections together. Isoc and Cain had developed it a little more before they realized they had a system that could grab any Reploid's control over its body away from it.

  
  


"Nightmare Control Virus. Top-level Secret. Eyes of Cain Labs Executive Only. DO NOT USE!" read the tape on top of the folder.

"This," said Number One, "will come in useful."

  
  


To be continued....

  
  


I always wondered where Gate had gotten his Nightmares from. Well, Bebop may be facing execution now. Isoc's apparently turned against the Hunters. I think I'll try and figure out how exactly you switch one Reploid's brain out for another next time. 

  
  


Admittedly, the end of this moved a little fast, but I figure the Hunters would be gasping for breath as well, and if Isoc was scanned, there's probably a chance someone would notice there's a difference in his data patterns. 

  
  


Maverick nanos coating a user after Shadow Armor showed up back at the end of X.5, and displaying a Maverick signature wasn't very clear at that point, but became more obvious as time went on. For the record, three of the seven days Number One figured would destroy the Hunters has been used up, and he seems to be getting ahead of schedule.

  
  


I've finally put together a story guide for this series. I may post it once I'm done with the current arc (Last Dance) into this file, or perhaps a second new file in either lists or MM itself. Part of the problem is I'm not sure how ff.net's policy would handle something like that. Review or e-mail if you have any comments on that, or anything else in my works.

  
  


The reason for this, is that things are getting awfully long and complicated. The little goodies they were trying to get for Isoc were referenced a while back, when Isoc told Signas that he hoped most of the off-shoots of the Iris project would never see the light of day.

  
  


Since this part has been so big, I'm going to finish it up before the author's notes get too long.

  
  


Next time:

  
  


The Shadowed Reploids may very well have to be destroyed to save the Hunters, but will that even be enough? For that matter, will the Hunters manage to discover the source behind the current plot before it destroys them. Will we even learn WHY Number One has been so eager to destroy the Hunters? And as if there wasn't enough problems, Sigma's latest plot promises to be the last thing the Hunters need. 


	12. Hunter's Last Dance Part 3: Swan Song

Mega Man X 1.5

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


We're about done now, kiddies, for this arc, but there's still time for one last

  
  


Disclaimer: I don't own Mega Man, the folks at Capcom do. 

  
  


The Last Dance of the Hunters: Swan Song

  
  


"Three minutes remaining Bebop! Show yourself!" Isoc, or rather, something that looked like Isoc taunted on the screens in the war room. Hunter Headquarters was in the biggest uproar since Sky Lagoon got attacked. Isoc had suddenly taken a data sample from Bebop, as well as getting some footage that didn't look good, especially with Isoc's spinning it. Bebop would love to show up and shout Isoc down, but the Shadow Armor left a coating of nanomachines that scanners read as Maverick, and Isoc had managed to push a nervous Bebop's stress levels high enough to trigger, and there wasn't time to teleport to the World Council headquarters in Geneva, and wash off the nanomachines.

  
  


That report had been delivered by high-speed data transfer, courtesy of Alia and her super-advanced electronics equipment, only a few seconds before, and the Hunter command corps was trying to figure out what exactly had happened to Isoc. "Get someone out there to prove if that's Isoc or not! For that matter, someone load a Chameleon Sting or something into Jazz so she can play Bebop!" Zero suggested.

  
  


"No good. The action report says they both used the Shadow Armor earlier. Every sensor in the World Council chambers would report either of them as Maverick," X said glumly. The fact that they weren't would be harder to explain, but traces of the Virus meant instant deletion still, despite whatever modifications to Hunter policy. And in all but three cases, Maverick Virus-like nanomachines, which spread in, bypasses cutouts, and basically downloaded the Virus until the Reploid had none of their old self left; carried the Virus. Zero, Jazz, and Bebop, somehow could channel it into something else. Unfortunately, that fact was pretty much High Secret, but it didn't look like they had a choice here. 

  
  


Iris, who wasn't quite a member of the Hunters, but no one was going to make Zero stop having her hang around; said softly, "We're going to have to give them your sister on a platter, aren't we?"

  
  


Zero groaned and nodded. "If the Council demands a subpoena for our records, we'd have to show them exactly what was going on. Even though we were proven right, there's an eighty percent chance we'll be in trouble for not destroying at least Jazz, and possibly not all four considering they spent a long time in an area Sigma had complete domination over. I mean, Sigma's been trying to get his hands on an Ancient or another since practically the first Uprising, since we don't scan well." Iris nodded. Medical exams for any of the Light or Wily built sentient machines was a pain and a half. Many of their more combat-related systems simply refused to register as a fuzzy blur on scanners. A lot of highly advanced Reploids, capable of massive independent thought processes and even capable of limited growth in their system capabilities, were similar. Iris's armor systems were an example of that, but she didn't like to use it.

  
  


X decided, "Get a team out there. We're taking Isoc into custody on suspicion of being Maverick. If we're vicious suspicious trigger-happy bastards, we'll make it work for us. Until then, get Bebop and Jazz back here and wash them off. I'll head out to, but there's something I need to get first." 

  
  


"I'd hurry X. Alia just reported that Jazz and two others had to sit on Bebop to prevent him from teleporting in. And, half the Council is calling, and one of the few Reploid members is reporting a quiet set of memos being circulated to consider taking off our charter," said Signas glumly. It was times like this he wished that Cain was still around to handle these people. There were some Reploids, quietly, of course; and a lot of humans who disliked the Hunters, either because of their protocols for determining who was Maverick, or the idea that weapons in Reploid hands would be a bad one. 

  
  


X paused for a second, warping in Light's armor, the boosted version of the Fourth set. This confrontation might come to blows, and there was little better than the Ultimate Armor for when you had to retire some Reploids in a hurry. Zero just checked to make sure his beam saber was intact as the two went to get past the anti-teleport fields in the center of Maverick HQ. Zero paused, and stuck his head back in the room, "Coming, Iris? We may need you to smooth things over."

"It's been a while since I've worked communications, Zero," Iris warned, but started running anyway. Signas was careful to hide his grin. She was starting to get better, and it looked like X's subtle suggestion to Zero to fold Iris in to the Hunters was taking hold. Of course, Signas was willing to bet X had muttered something to Zero once he was out of sight, but that was unimportant.

  
  


*********************

  
  


"Let's see, Bebop, I know you're afraid to come. After all, showing your true self means you've outlived your usefulness to the Hunters as their little weapon of having the Maverick fury to turn against those who displease them! And things that displease the Hunters have a very short life span, usually courtesy of your big brother? Is he SO proud of his little killing machine?" taunted Isoc.

  
  


"That's enough!" X barked, striding out. It caused a bit of a stir in the Council. Almost no one had gotten a glance at X's latest upgrade, and the polished black metal was in stark contrasts to the usual white and red ornamentation. Combined with the gold touches, it had the look of the armor a king would wear to a ceremony, and X hoped he wouldn't have to show just what Light's gift was capable of. 

  
  


"And so the Hunter comes to give judgement. X, do you know you're the one thing that's kept Reploids from marching on your Headquarters for the last few years? Light's last child is beyond repute, but even you've been forced to do things you'd rather not talk about. How does it feel to know the Virus has been under your roof?" Isoc asked, voice thundering.

  
  


X shook his head sadly, "Isoc, there's something wrong with you. Just come on back to headquarters." Isoc started to open his mouth, but X's surprise walked forward from the alcove at the back of the room.

  
  


Rock stood, helmet off, besides his younger but bigger brother. Various personality subroutines clicked together, and Rock looked at his adoptive father with a mix of pity and worry on his features. "Father, come with X. He fights only for defense." 

  
  


Isoc shook his head sadly, "I don't think that will happen Rock. You see, the Hunters targets are carefully chosen by the idiots in this room via the careful process of throwing darts at a map of large conglomerations of Reploids. On their own, the Hunters would only respond to real Maverick threats, but as the leader of Cain Labs, I'm forced to report your brother as a threat. But, since no one survives X, it's time to at least leave an impression in the rank of kills." X was stunned. He knew he didn't see the world through quite the innocence of even the Third Uprising. Repliforce had shocked Zero and him, as well as most of the other Hunters, to the core. Am I just a weapon now? thought X.

  
  


X didn't get the time to mull things over. Whoever was in Isoc had done his homework, and knew the burden of guilt X carried at all times. So, while X, master Hunter, was temporarily paused, Isoc raised a hand and shot through Rock with a beam of blue energy. Rock paused, circuits crackling around the gap, and then slumped forward, power levels fading fast. Rock hit the ground, and no one in the Council chamber moved for a moment.

  
  


Bebop, sat upon by several heavy Reploids and getting the camera feed transmitted to him, struggled anew, "That bastard copied MY weapon system to attack MY brother! Will you guys get off so I can rip his fusion generator out!" Bebop demanded. 

  
  


Jazz extended her claws and held them in front of Bebop's face. Bebop noted they were trembling slightly. "Listen you," she said, "I'm ready to go gut that imposter just as much as you are, probably more since I'd enjoy it more than you. But, there are several thousand people who could get retired," Jazz's face twisted at the euphemism, "if you walk into the Council as you are now. I love you dearly, but if you keep squirming, I swear on Father's grave I'm going to remove the primary motor driver in your spine." Jazz's eyes were clouded with misery at the situation, but Bebop was almost certain she would go through with it. What terrified Bebop more than the threat of imminent paralysis was that Jazz was terrified enough to consider threatening him with imminent paralysis. Jazz sat down and whispered, "Relax, Lancer is picking some stuff up at Headquarters before heading out to the Council."

  
  


X started moving forward at that point, and Isoc held up his hand. "Not so fast! Do you have any idea what kind of radiation your Nova Strike produces? Not to mention hot, hot plasma. You and I could stand several feet away with no ill effects, but no matter how much the gene pool would be improved in the long run, it probably is a bad idea to go firing off your plasma in a confined space." X's response was to switch colors and fire off a ground Hunter. The tiny energy-stingray burned a trail through the fine carpet before smacking the surprised Isoc in a leg, scorching his armor. "Stupid variable weapons grid," cursed Isoc, before shrugging and pointing his weapon at the crowd who still remained. "What? Haven't you figured it out yet? I'm dedicated to getting the truth about the Hunters out for Reploid-kind to be saved. That also means getting rid of fear-filled deathmongers like yourselves." X leaped forward desperately as Isoc's barrel glowed as it prepared to fire.

  
  


******************

  
  


"What game are you playing!" Sigma roared. Beside him was Double, the loyal Reploid who Sigma had only recently managed to finish piecing back together, in his Jello Man form. Sigma was furious. The reborn presence of the DNA Soul Chip would be an easy way to band fearful Reploids behind the Hunters, and Sigma knew most C-class Hunters could take Isoc down, even with a cannon system borrowed from Bebop in his arm.

  
  


"Mine, of course, dear ally," said Number One smoothly in reply. "I thank you for your help, but as your little Virus will not capture that which will scythe the world, I'm afraid the only other response was to destroy his entire support structure. And when the Crimson Hunter falls, so will Iris. And only Zero's loyalty to the Hunters' ideals is what keeps him from being a true devil on the battlefield. You should know that. YOU brought him in to be repaired." 

  
  


Sigma's eyes narrowed. Number One wasn't even pretending not to know who he was. Some secrets had to be revealed, and since Sigma's power rested so much with his troops and the Virus, it had been tacitly agreed not to say anything. "Your fight will only strengthen the Hunters. Isoc's sudden change is to obvious! Isoc would never destroy Rock!"

  
  


"It does not matter. Isoc will wipe out much of the Council, as X's response is limited due to the bystanders, who were too scared and ... otherwise, to move. Obviously, the people put into power after such a tragedy will be more reactionary. Even the Hunters will not stand for the new issues, and then you will have many Reploids to gather into your army." Sigma said nothing, his virus-infected mind still fully capable of massive amounts of plotting.

  
  


He can control humans to an extent! Sigma realized, and then Sigma's Reploid blood almost stopped flowing with a further realization, Why would someone who almost certainly is going to finish this conversation with either him or I terminating our alliance want me to gather more strength unless it makes things easier for him. 

  
  


"This conversation is over! I have matters to attend to if I hope to recover from the debacle you're planning." Sigma cut the connection and turned to his aid, "Sweep the entire fortress for listening devices, and put our troops on alert. I do believe it's time for me to take up my old job for a time." Sigma grabbed his beam scythe, laying against the wall, and trotted out of the room at a fast pace. 

  
  


***********************

  
  


X went hurtling backwards into the tables around the central area, splintering it as the force of the laser blew him backwards. At long last, the Council members finally began to run away from the room. Isoc's laughter was cut off as X stood up, brushing at a small burn mark on his chest. "4 percent damage," X noted, "You know, there's a reason Bebop either uses his lasers charged, or not at all." Growling, Isoc triggered another beam, and X raised his forearms and closed his eyes against the glare as the laser tried its best to tear at his armor.

  
  


(Author Note, chibi-edition. The Council standing around gawking. Is it just the thing with people always standing around until the hero gets knocked away, and THEN they run, or is it something more insidious? In any case, I didn't feel like upping the content warning, so I decided that poor X is going to get the blows.)

Iris started to run forward, energy flickering around her from where she stood off to the side. Zero raised a hand to hold her back. At her questioning stare, Zero explained, "In your armor, do you think with the way you ac tin armor, you're not going to take a path that will be hard to hit, so some blasts might get past you and hit civilians? X can handle Isoc easily. He's got at least one full sub-tank, and he's just holding off until everyone clears out." Iris started to comment, thought it over, and then paused and shivered for a moment. She had always wondered how her brother could be so eager for war, and exposure to his processors had started to make her wonder how he could ever STOP fighting. Compared to that portion of Iris's programing, Zero looked like a pacifist.

  
  


X had decided that people were clear enough to get little more than a sunburn, and released a charged plasma shot followed by a ground hunter. The ability to use the standard weapon at the same time as a special unit had been an apparent growth of his systems sometime after the Third Uprising, though X hadn't used his Buster a lot through that period, so he wasn't sure when it happened. 

  
  


Sure enough, with a slight hiss of hydraulics, Isoc took to the air as the plasma blew through the podium with ease before burning its way through the wall. X winced, he had thought the Council was a little better armored than that, and he hoped that no one had been standing back there. Regardless, Isoc dropped down after the shot and hit the stingray again, the energy jolt knocking the Reploid down. X started going through his weapon lists as he cautiously circled, trying to draw Isoc's attention more away from where people were still being assisted by Hunters away from the room. What would work best to try and keep Isoc intact?

  
  


A teleport sound hit the room behind him, and X turned to watch a black shape form out. X nodded, and made a note to try and pick up an energy absorbing weapon if at all possible before the next Uprising. Lancer stepped forward and spat his Dark Void out at Isoc. The cloud's properties smothered the energy of a Reploid (or human), quickly weakening them. To speed things up, Lancer unfolded his wings and let loose tiny plasma bolts fly from the cannons mounted at his wing joint. Lancer was an A-ranked Hunter, and it showed as the tight cluster of bolts aimed for shoulder joints, attempting to cut through power to the arm and the laser cannon mounted within. Isoc fired back in response, still capable despite his auto-repair energy being low, and Lancer winced as he realized he would have to be hit as there were still humans in the area, and took the blow to his chest armor. He was nowhere near X in terms of defensive power, designed more for speed and stealth, and before the laser's bolt finish grinding against his synthetic fur pelt, it had cut through to several circuits. "Stupid 1st Law of Robotics and even stupider humans for not evacuating like any four-year-old! I am NOT voting for these guys again!" muttered Lancer to X on a tightbeam channel. Despite the situation, X snorted once. 

  
  


Definitely angry about being shot at by his commanding officer, Lancer had another Dark Void charged up and spat at Isoc. This one seemed to do it, crumpling the Reploid down. The danger to the humans past, several low-ranking Hunters, carrying binders, started trotting forward from overseeing the evacuation. "Why do they call you Lancer, anyway? It doesn't quite seem to fit," asked X approvingly. Lancer merely lazily grinned, displaying the three-inch long incisors that were normally hidden by his bat-like maw, as well as displaying claws at the tips of his small arms, the joints of his wings, and toes. 

  
  


"Oh," said X, and went back to keeping an eye on Isoc. 

  
  


"Very impressive Hunters, and up to your usual collateral damage as well," said a voice from the sound system. Sigma's face appeared in the holoprojector. X and Lancer groaned when they saw the familiar scarred, bald face. As if the day hadn't been bad enough. Sigma, apparently, saw their reaction and grinned slightly, "Relax, Hunters. I'm not announcing another Uprising. X, our next little meeting isn't quite in my day planner yet. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Hunters weren't forced to accomplish my goals for me shortly enough. Humanity has once again showed its foolishness. Under their directives were Reploids forced to fight Reploids in my laughingly termed 'Fourth Uprising', when all I did was coach General to see the truth, not even requiring the Virus." Sigma leaned forward. X, and Zero near the back, studied desperately to see if Sigma was revealing any clues about his new body, but Sigma's head was the only thing carefully kept in frame. 

  
  


Sigma whispered, "In fact, those valorous Hunters have even been forced to hide research that may make my recruiting process far more difficult," Sigma shook his head sadly, "How could I spend such time protecting so many fools and ingrates?" Sigma brightened, "But still, I do value my time with the Hunters. I learned much there, including that a successful Uprising wasn't a few Reploids getting terminal revenge on a prejudiced supervisor. In honor of that time, X, I'm going to do you a favor, and preserve the last few shreds of integrity the Hunter mainframe has, since the real Isoc's been transferred from his body via DNA Soul Chip and is getting his memory drained. There is one way to stop the transfer."

  
  


Sigma leapt out of the hole that X's plasma blast had left in the back wall. He had foregone the cloak, and resembled his Fourth body but for a bright green jewel, probably hiding an energy weapon, on his chest. In his hand he held a copy of his latest mighty hand weapon, and ignited the beam scythe, cleaving it down through Isoc's torso, breaching the fusion containment and causing the Reploid to explode in a nuclear-powered fireball that reduced much of the front of the Council Hall to a smoking glass-lined crater. 

X started charging his weapon, expression furious at Isoc's death, but Lancer, a bit wheezy from damage, held out an arm to hold back X. "Hang on X. If Sigma's last encounter was any indication, I've got something picked up you don't that we'll need here." X was confused as Lancer leapt forward, wings spread in a snarl.

  
  


"Courage, bravery, you've kept your Unit intact despite the massive morale losses the Hunters have been facing," noted Sigma, "Despite a lack of strategic, or somewhat even of tactical planning, you have proven an able warrior. Oh, why not?" asked Sigma, tossing a packet stored in his arm forward. Lancer froze and glowed blue before the Viral packet opened, spreading darkness around him. The blue tore with black for a moment. X and Sigma stared in shock at the sight as the Virus tore futilely at the aura, which was slowly fading, but still holding strong as the Virus decayed at a much faster rate. Lancer hadn't even moved since he started to glow. X cursed mentally. The Vaccine program was still in its testing phase, and might not have even worked. Lancer must have picked it up just in case since Sigma had been using concentrated Viral packages in his last encounter with the Hunters.

  
  


Zero, meanwhile came rushing down the stairs, armor already fading to black to help suck up the Virus. Tearing away from the haunting spectacle, X noticed flickers of light that indicated Iris was preparing to get in a few shots. Most of the Hunters cowered. Sigma was a nightmare, and many of the Hunters had joined since the last Uprising, and knew full well the last minute desperation moves and luck that had allowed X to survive the former Hunter, when he was loaded with enhancements. 

  
  


Zero, however, feared no Reploid, and quickly stepped in between X and Lancer to deal with the Viral nanos that may be making their way towards X. As X pointed his X-Buster at Sigma, who was doing a good job using the rigid Lancer as an obstacle, Zero hissed as each step brought a slightly stronger red aura around him. 

  
  


"Time to wake up, Lancer," Zero muttered, and reached over to tap Lancer on the wing joint. As his hand approached the blue aura surrounding Lancer, it turned back to its normal color, the black fading away in chunks. Yelling in pain as the Virus still in the air tried to invade his system, Zero backed up a few steps, aura glowing far more brightly as the Shadow Armor converted nanos that had actually invaded him. After a moment, Zero relaxed as his hand faded back to black.

  
  


Sigma was agog. The Vaccine program for the Hunters had not only worked, but it had even proven successful at infiltrating one of the doctor's Reploids. Sigma had felt the faint tingling connections of the control of Infection for a moment. However, Lancer, at that point, screeched, beyond the ability of humans to hear though a few water glasses left on tables shattered, and fell over. Coolant and smoke streamed from his mouth, and his eyes rolled up in his head as he convulsed. 

  
  


"I don't think that program was ready to go gold, X," Sigma taunted as Lancer lay still. Despite the danger, several junior Hunters ran to their commander's still body. Getting X angry was a dangerous proposition, as it had led to the deaths of several bodies Sigma had particularly enjoyed. However, right now Sigma needed to get out of here and find more about that little program they had put together. He had originally thought it hopeless, as the Virus propagated physically and electronically, and Sigma could simply change the nanoprobes around. So far, only Zero, Jazz, and Bebop's bodies had proven able to fight, no to conquer, the Virus electronically, allowing the physical aspects to be subverted. Now, he thought there might be some use for the project. 

  
  


Sigma took a deep breath to increase the coolant flow to his reactor a bit, as this next plan would drain him. The jewel on Sigma's chest pulsed threateningly several times and then launched a massive green bolt into the floor, throwing up a plume of ionized dust. Once Sigma's position was obscured, he broke for it. Undignified, yes. But risking losing the data he had seen with this body was worth far more than taking out several minor Hunters. 

  
  


X and several Hunters looked over Lancer, who moved no more, but still glowed faintly blue. Zero was keeping a distance away as his systems continued to battle with the Virus that had gotten a minor toehold on his system. Iris, armor complete, jetted down to pick up Lancer so they could move him for treatment. Upon touching him, however, she screeched and her crystal, containing her core personality, ejected from the machine.

  
  


X thought quickly. Iris was going to be in full attack mode, and Zero was reading more or less like a Maverick now. For that matter, the look in his eyes showed him to be under great strain. Whatever had happened when he had touched Lancer meant the Virus was still close to gaining supremacy, and a sudden aggressive maneuver could probably push him at least temporarily over the edge. X stepped away from Lancer, and took the dangerous step of moving into the line of fire, acutely aware that his energy meter was down about twenty percent. As Iris moved farther away from Lancer, the crystal returned, and the armor glowed for a second before Iris dropped to the ground bonelessly. Zero and X moved to catch her, but not even they could reach her before she hit the ground with a metallic clank.

  
  


The Reploids holding onto Lancer hissed and moved backwards, their arms hanging stiffly at their sides. It was obvious they only had limited control over them. "What is that?" asked on of them, in obvious pain. Considering how fried Lancer apparently was, it was likely the circuits had been literally burnt out of their arms. 

  
  


"The Vaccine," Zero stated grimly. "It obviously still has a few bugs left in it." Zero grimaced, and the aura gradually died around him, "Please don't put anyone especially irritating in saber range right now. I'm not quite sure what I would do." 

  
  


X was speaking internally into his communicator for a moment. After a little bit, Lancer's still glowing body turned into a column of blue-streaked black energy, headed for the local Hunter detachment. Geneva, as world capital, deserved such. "Zero," said X, "You and Iris should probably get out of here as well. They're going to start wondering about the demonic glow in a little while, and I'm not sure if we've finished the paperwork saying Iris is alive yet." Zero, done glowing, but evidently not calm enough to switch to his normal armor yet, picked up Iris's limp form and left for Headquarters. 

X groaned, and went over to the limp form of his brother, and removed his helmet and closed the still form's eyes, head bowed. Another teleport sound filled the hall as Jazz and Bebop dropped down, saw where X was, and took off running. The two skidded to a stop, looking at the scene in horror, before Bebop sprung into action, shoving X out of the way before gathering up the body. X started to protest, but Bebop silenced him with a glare.

  
  


"I know Hunter Headquarters doesn't have the medical staff to save him right now, especially with thinking Hunters needing the help, but I think I know a place that might do just as well," Bebop stated, and quickly triggered his teleporter, disappearing in a stream of green light. 

  
  


Jazz said, "He's gone to the base in the Amazon. They had some fairly advanced equipment there. Permission to go raid tools from our quarters, sir?" X nodded and Jazz vanished in a red stream, her old original color. 

  
  


********************

  
  


Jazz returned to the entrance of the Amazon area several minutes later, carrying a few tiny diagnostic instruments, a mini-fusion generator she'd cadged from Lifesaver, and Chibi-Gemini Man for doing close-in welding work. Alia and Wolf were on guard, and looked at her worriedly as she went through. 

  
  


"Father may have been against him, but he was also crazier than a bag of mixed nuts," muttered Jazz to herself. She felt in her very core that he was watching her angrily at this moment, "Heck, even Bass sometimes stood against him in terms of decency, and Bass was the most violent robot he ever created," Jazz smiled wistfully. She wasn't sure what exactly had happened to Rock's greatest rival, but if Bass ever returned, she'd be doing everything in her power to save his life as well. Gemini Man shifted on her shoulder and she grinned. She had revived an old reprogrammed Robot Master, though without the memory, to get a little taste of life at home, though luckily enough people didn't know their history sufficiently to quite realize the significance of the robot during the Gamma Crisis. 

  
  


Bebop had found a small table from somewhere and laid his dying brother on it inside the primary control room. It was mainly deactivated, and a few Reploids were attempting to download information from the memory core watched as Bebop went to work. "Is this important?" Bebop asked at the control panel for the defenses before heaving off the cover and looking for circuits he could use. He had rigged a small power supply to try and keep Rock stabilized as he finished sorting out the piles.

  
  


"Okay, little guy, I'm going to need a spare you," Jazz ordered when she entered the room. The crystal-decorated copy saluted and with a shimmer of light, Gemini twinned. Suddenly, two versions of the antique mining master sat on Jazz's shoulder, before hopping down and probing the damage to Rock with curious expressions. They didn't have vocal synthesizers or transmitters, there was a limit to miniaturization; but they were quite expressive and good at delicate work with their small size. 

  
  


A few of the technician Reploids broke off plumbing the data base to take a look at watching the two go to work on major repairs while the mini-Master quickly put the machinery into place. Without an advanced medical bay, the repairs weren't nearly as precise, but Gemini was nearly as good as having the sophisticated waldos of Headquarters to maneuver objects into position, and Jazz and Bebop had received instruction from some of the very best. Not to mention, that by modern standards, much of Rock's circuitry was very crude. The technicans dispensed the occasional advice, though mainly stayed out of the way. These sort of repairs didn't need a lot of extra hands. 

  
  


With a power supply running to Rock from the base's systems (set on low), plus the portable generator Jazz brought, the first part of repair, keeping damage from spreading was easy. Rock's fusion generator had shut off line and the sophisticated computers making up his brain had shut down one by one as most of the capacitors and emergency power had been taken out by Isoc's charged shot. The power feed kept Rock's mind stabilized, and since the mental circuits were the most difficult part to piece together, the rest was easy, as long as they were careful with their explorations.

  
  


It took a few hours, but the repairs were almost done. The computers were back on line thanks to the technicians, though cracking the passwords on the data bases would take quite a while. "We seem to be clear on all scans. You can use these to do the diagnostics before reactivating him," offered one of the technicians to the bleary eyed Reploids. Reploids needed sleep time to recover, charge systems, deal with ordinary wear and tear, as well as ensure mental stability with the occasional dream. They had spent about twenty hours on their feet, counting the flights they had flown earlier today on survey missions before everything went weird. Alia and Wolf had come in after they were off duty to give moral support, but were slumped asleep in a corner. Even Gemini had to stop to recharge on his limited batteries. 

  
  


Still, it seemed word had come down from on high to help out Rock, especially since Hunter resources really weren't being used besides time of some Hunters. Jazz took the contacts gratefully and plugged them into Rock, before going over to tap on a keypad and downloaded one of her diagnostic programs into the computer. Bebop was monitoring Rock's stats. The computer beeped merrily a few times and started running. "I don't know how X managed to stay awake for all three of those days. I can't even go a whole day!" complained Jazz shakily. 

  
  


"Pillows would be good about now," agreed Bebop, looking at Rock with a bit of hope. It was out of their hands now, but hopefully Rock would recover. Bebop's hands had started to shake anyway, despite some attempts to reroute tired controls. None of the other Reploids have so much trouble when they're exhausted. They just go right into a stasis state, thought Bebop peevishly. 

  
  


******************

  
  


Number One restrained himself, barely, from clapping his hands with glee. "So, it seems your sister-in-law has hooked you unwittingly into my computer systems. I wonder if it was instinctual?" mused Number One, "Ah, no matter. Now, to drain Light's secrets from your memory banks, as your brother has given the code." Number One rolled his eyes and muttered, "That infernal whistle. Of all things, why that annoying, constant whistle?" Number One quickly sent the information, through hidden data lines. A famous set of notes, now used for a grim purpose. 

  
  


Rock didn't move, blink, or twitch. Instead, the information, piped directly to his aural circuits, piped back all the data on Light's hidden chips. Number One grinned, "Excellent. Now, how to finish you off? Let's see, most of your systems are deactivated, I have access to your neural core. Time to make it look like a horrible hardware accident." One grinned ferally, "And just one for old time's sake: Curse you Mega Man!" Number One sent the command racing out, quickly seizing up Mega Man's processors, as system failed after system. Either a virus, or a simple power spike. With Number One's control of the computers, the technicians still plugging away didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, since all the components used by Number One, had been used by the diagnostic. 

  
  


*********************

  
  


"How bad is it Signas?" asked X. The two were standing watching a scene in the quarantine bay, long the unruly home of Bebop and Jazz, over a monitor in the war room. Now, however, carefully shielded probes were examining Lancer. Gate and Lifesaver were running the show, and amazed Lancer was even alive. The Vaccine had blocked the Virus all right, by sending all circuits into high levels of activity. The nanomachines were fried whenever they tried to link up. A Met, however, had limited neural capacity, and its tiny free will section was quickly full, leaving the only activities possible those suggested by another. Reploid complexity, however, meant everything was interlaced with the areas the Virus would attack. Desperate pumping of energy, and Lifesaver burning out an arm, had kept Lancer alive so far, but it was a losing battle. The aura was only fading as it had less to go on.

  
  


"Well, the Council is in an uproar, and they want to know what exactly Zero was wearing, and why a high-ranking member of Repliforce was let with the Hunters. They're probably willing to let live, as we can say it's a prototype Virus shield. It's even the truth," said Signas bitterly. The stress of having to finally stop rationalizing and realize they had lied, deeply, was cutting at Signas's sense of duty, and it was starting to tear him apart on the inside. "Sigma's still on the run, we have no idea where he ran off to. Most of the Hunters are still out of commission from wounds several days ago. Plus, a Reploid clerk in one of the Council member's offices passed me information that they're preparing to revoke our charter." Signas paused, eyes unfocused. He was evidently hearing something over a communicator, and Signas seemed to slump. "The emergency repair to Rock has failed. The cats hooked him to the diagnostic and collapsed. Shortly thereafter, the techs noticed the diagnostic was giving odd returns. By the time they did anything, it was too late. His memory's GONE. Luckily, we do have copies of most of Light's stuff, and he probably could be restored from backup tape."

  
  


"It wouldn't be the same," said X sadly. All the experiences gained since those backups, made in the middle of the Robot Rebellions, would cease to exist. "How are the cats taking it?"

  
  


"They just submitted their resignation to the Hunters, citing psychological issues. Even beyond the fact that, technically, we're on a war footing with Sigma loose and need everyone, there's another problem," X looked confused and Signas explained, "Unfortunately, regulations don't permit us to accept any Hunter leaving without being disarmed. I was forced to tell them that their resignation couldn't be accepted at this time. For their sake, I won't repeat their response." X winced as he realized what was happening. Jazz and Bebop's weapon systems were integral parts of them, just like his X-Buster, which he would have loved to have removed a few times. True, without their armor on, they resembled humans closely and their weapons could scratch paint, maybe, by modern military terms, but the core systems would still be there. For that matter, getting too far away from the armor could have a damaging effect on the systems Light had installed to repair the neural damage he and Wily had inflicted by their control mechanisms. The cats were stuck. 

  
  


X snorted. For that matter, the Hunters were stuck. The Vaccine had failed, killing a good person, and for that matter, destroying the command integrity of the one Unit left reasonably intact. It seemed likely that the Hunters wouldn't be around for more than the next few days, and then who would defend against future Uprisings? People turned throughout the war room as X realized he had vocalized his last thought. "Heh, heh," he said nervously.

  
  


"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much, scion of Light," said a voice over the loudspeakers. X blinked, and then remembered the loudspeakers were on the old communications network.

  
  


"Sigma," said X, making it more of a statement than a fact. Signas hit the panic button next to him. Instead of klaxons and sirens going off, alerting the Hunters to full battle readiness, everything continued in their normal state. 

  
  


The technicians were well trained. They allowed themselves perhaps a second of gaping amazement before opening up panels and running diagnostics. "Oh, very well. Sound your little alarm," said the voice, "I was just trying to have a reasonably peaceful conversation. And X, before I let you work your little Hunters up into a panic, I am NOT that bald idiot." Sirens still failed to wail. "Huh. I guess I lie. Oh well. Anyway, X, you should be interested to note that I've accomplished far more than Sigma ever has. You can cal me Number One. You're security is no match for me, and I have all of Cain Labs and your data." Technicians frantically worked at tracing the lines.

  
  


"Hey!" said the voice suddenly, "I was going through the files. Do you know Dr. Cain was forced to put in an override that shuts down all the containment on the fusion reactor in Maverick Hunter Headquarters? Five minute secret countdown too. Tappity tappity tappity!" 

  
  


"Can we take that at face value?" X asked cynically. Zero and Iris were off doing some training somewhere to try and get Iris's training back, and X really wished he could get Zero's opinion right now. 

  
  


Suddenly, a screen turned on, and it was someone who X hadn't been expecting to hear during business hours again. Dr. Cain's aged face appeared, looking urgent. "Listen X, if this is playing, someone just put in the little security measure the Council ordered when they rebuilt HQ following Uprising Number One. If you're seeing this, then that means the computers have tracked your location and you, yourself aren't Maverick. I have to assume I'm not with you, as I have the override to the command. As such, my final orders are you to run for it!" Everyone gawked for a moment as Dr. Cain smiled, "That's right. I'm not senile. The fusion generator is approaching overload. Your mission is to get away, split up, and form a resistance force. X, I suggest Dopplertown as a starting point. You might find something interesting there." Cain looked saddened, "If the situation is like this, then the humanity may be planning to turn against Reploids. I hoped it would never come to this. X, you and your team may be what the world's counting on, but I doubt you can do it in the open any more. Now hurry! This old man has used up one of your minutes!" Suddenly, all the loudspeakers, which had been quiet during the break blared with Dr. Cain's voice. "Listen up Hunters! This is the old man! Emergency evacuation of Hunter HQ has been authorized! All staff prepare teleports to the vehicle bays and get all the equipment you can out! Message repeats, as you've got t-minus 160 seconds..." 

  
  


The Hunters were far too calm to panic, and emergency evacuation plans had been set and reset over the years. Beds were equipped with emergency teleport devices to other outposts. Hopefully, the many Hunters still disabled might be able to escape. Meanwhile, once above ground, things got much easier with high speed transports. Especially as the teleportation shields were disabled. Counting down the seconds as they ran, most Hunters went to the nearest armory and outfitted themselves before teleporting out. Almost everyone had managed to teleport out with a minute to spare, or reach the Landchaser bays and use them.

  
  


Zero and Iris paused as they overlooked the training facility. Ten seconds were remaining. "I'm really going to miss this place." Zero shut a switch on the wall as he turned with Iris. The lights went out in Maverick HQ as two final streaks carried away. 

  
  


**********************

  
  


Number One cursed as he saw the Maverick Hunters get away from a satellite view before the satellite was overloaded by a fusion flare. "Delete this. Delete it all. Weapon-carrying Reploids are dangerous, and if no one knows they're gone, we can make the Hunters into martyrs. Begin the contingency plans. A few more Hunters got out than anticipated, but they are weak and scattered, and the loss of the HQ almost certainly took a chunk out of Tokyo. We'll have their charter, but they can't go far enough underground to get away," he muttered. 

  
  


"Are you sure, sir? Almost all of our listening equipment was in their Headquarters, and we didn't realize Cain trusted the Reploids enough, and X, to go against the Council," said an aide over remote link.

  
  


"Agreed. However, they've lost the good majority of their equipment, their medical supplies. Those in that fateful simulator battle will tell you how damage can add up beyond that which auto-repair systems can provide. Of the Hunters, only X is really well known, and mainly from his distinctive armor sets. The Hunters cannot provide effective resistance right now. They're in too much trouble with too little fortifications. Sigma might do us a favor and wipe them out. Still, harry them at Dopplertown. Don't let them rest until they're driven to the ends of the earth," ordered Number One. His aide hastened to comply.

  
  


"You thought you at least got the win of having your lives Hunters. You were wrong," stated Number One. "After all, I've been engaged in far too much planning since my original and Light's death. I won't be stopped by a few sophisticated robots waving guns at me." Number One took one last look at the Nightmare project, now under construction, and deactivated the drone body. After all, the doppleganger of Dr. Albert Wily's mind was, like Light's capsule's AI, merely a super-advanced computer program, but a puppet body made dealing with underlings easier. Still, the core of Wily's mind lived on, minus that troubling insanity favor. It was amazing what a lack of glands would do.

  
  


Wily dived into the network There was still plotting to be done to fulfill his primary function: the complete and utter domination of the world in Wily's name. In the ruins of a once great metropolis, the Hunters, gathering up for the night, shivered as if something was walking on their graves. It was, indeed, it was picking out the tombstones and flower arrangements. 

  
  


X looked out the assembled Hunters, a shadow of their peak strength. "We've been hurt, but we're not going to be stopped. Believe it or not, things have been worse, but we've held to our mission throughout everything. Humanity still faces a lot of threats, and it's our job to stop them. Always has been, and it may always be. For now, the best thing we can do is make new plans. A new world order may think it's coming to knock the props out from under society, but I haven't met any megalomaniac whose plans the Hunters haven't derailed." Applause started to ring out.

  
  


Zero yelled, "Get some sleep. We've got butt-kicking to do in the morning!" Cheers and bloodthirsty howls rang out. X smiled. Bowed but not broken, the Hunters camped.

  
  


To be continued in X 2.5.

  
  


Well, following the epilogue + Author's Notes on the next page!


	13. Epilogue

Mega Man X 1.5 

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Disclaimer: I don't own MMX. Capcom does.

  
  


Epilogue. The dance is over. Clean up has begun, and the party has ended. Woe be to those who stay too long.

  
  


This will have a little different setup. I'm going to visit each of the various groups in their situation at the beginning of the planned MMX 2.5 with a series of vingettes. One year has passed since the Hunters were broken at Tokyo. Many have been hunted down ... and changed. Others are dead, fighting with the various forces opposing Reploids and humankind. The Hunter name seems to have been changed to simply the Guardians, and they operate in a much more commando style. Their goals are the same: the fight for peace. Not everything that's important will be explained here, but I thought a few teasers would keep you interested while I finish plotting out the next arc.

  
  


***********************

  
  


"Don't you get it, you fool?" yelled the human holding the laser rifle at the simple working Reploid. They were near the edge of the dome which blocked the Olympus Mons mines off from the hostile Martian environment. "The Hunters never came to Mars. We've had to deal with Mavericks our own way! And I decide! You stupid Reploids thought you could trick us, huh, but soon you'll all get what's coming to you." The Reploid stumbled backwards. He had been going to his new job a bit too quickly and had gotten lost. He hadn't meant to stumble on a mob.

  
  


Things had been getting uglier. The Hunters had vanished, and many hadn't survived the next few days as Mavericks launched attacks. Dopplertown, where the Hunter wounded were being stored, had apparently been attacked, and that's when Hunters started to vanish. So many rumors swirled around, and the remnants of the Hunter leadership had been afraid or unable to step forward. Still, very few Reploids ever went off-world, due to fear of the colonies of a Maverick outbreak, and it wasn't likely anyone would dispute that fact. 

  
  


"No!" said a female voice from overhead. The bigot looked up only to be lightly zapped by some sort of electrical weapon. Slumping down due to the loss of conscious muscle control, the Reploid tore away and vanished. After a moment, the frightened human went the other way.

"That was dangerous, Alia," warned a deep voice coming up next to her on the roof. She wore her armor, the last remnants of Yammark, but despite the necessity for haste in their work, she wanted to just fall into the protection that voice offered her. However, Alia tried to school herself away. Wolf and she would have time later. But right now, they needed to get outside the locks and disappear into the Martian surface. They had a minute before all hell broke loose.

  
  


Quickly cycling through the little used lock, using one of Gate's little programs to jimmy what the camera saw, the two bounded out in the lower gravity. Alia didn't use her flight due to the lower atmospheric pressure and the possibility of being picked up on radar. Instead the two ran, and didn't even stare at the quick plume of flame before a small, nondescript robotic parts factory collapsed in on itself. Even Wolf allowed himself a quick grin. The systems being made their were high-preformance antigrav units, something only military machines would need. Not even Gate, the third member of their band, could tell why production had quadrupled in the last month on Mars, and that had been an obvious enough target for the Shadows to go after, as many of the Martian authorities called them.

  
  


Still, those authorities would be surprised that with the massive Hunter losses suffered After the Dome, only three had been permanently detailed to go to Mars and keep an eye on the growing Reploid population there. Still, with Gate's ability to hack networks, though Alia was a fair designer herself, as X had mentioned following the crisis that got them stationed here. Mars was cold and far away from friends and comrades, so she and Wolf made do as best they could together, as long as both could manage it. Another small blow had been struck against their enemy, and Alia was ready to think far more constructive thoughts for the next few days of lying low as they struck out for their base.

  
  


*********************

  
  


"Welcome to Eurasia!" said the cheerful female Reploid with long brown hair. She had been employed as a customs official on the space colony since approaching a few months ago, and her cheerful attitude had gotten even the most hard-bitten people to feel guilty about lying on their claims. Still, there was steel behind that gaze, and smuggling incidents had dropped to a quarter. She called herself Hera, and the mother goddess's name seemed almost appropriate. 

  
  


Part of it was her partner, a silent Reploid in orange battle armor. He literally radiated menace, and the officials had been surprised, but he did have all the proper permits for the deadly beam saber. The reploid had to only draw it once against a nasty gang leader, and the mere threat implicit in the blade had gotten the fight to stop. He called himself Omega, and no one doubted it. 

  
  


However, inside Zero's head were many thoughts. Worry for how the Hunters ("Guardians" Zero reminded himself. X had made a massive fuss over it) scattered hither and yon over the system were doing. Hope that he and Iris hadn't been barking up the wrong tree for the last few months. Reports indicated Eurasia, an old colony, but one with top-notch manufacturing plats, was linked to something, something big, but they didn't know what. So, the two had gotten themselves identities manufactured at great expense and risk, and now every day risked detection. Even Zero doubted he could take on a whole space colony by himself. So, for now, he waited and glowered. 

  
  


*********************

  
  


"Okay, Team One! You're training is done for the day! Get underground before this cloud cover breaks!" Signas barked. Several Reploids were going through training exercises in the mock urban area put together. Nowhere near their old facilities, but the randomness of weather was something the old holo-simulators had not quite ever been able to match. Still, despite the fact the training up to standard was taking longer, Signas felt very proud. These Reploids had been ones who hadn't been approached by their representatives, but instead had tracked down rumors and stumbled around searching for the base. There had been a few attempts by the new Global Security Force to try and infiltrate, but shady pasts and preforming helicopter landings into areas near where the GSF thought they were hiding had managed to keep them out of their business.

  
  


For now, however, the important thing was to keep the army out of sight, and out of mind. Without a clear target, there wasn't much they could do, which is why most of the high-ranking Guardians were gathering information, including a few people Signas didn't quite think they could do without. 

  
  


Confirming everyone was in the caves, Signas himself followed, and wandered through the twisting passages to get to the revived war room, a cave SOMEWHERE in the passages, and despite having this base for several months, Signas wasn't exactly sure where it was in relation to the entrances. Lifesaver and X were waiting there, going over the latest reports. With the knowledge that Mavericks weren't apparently the only threat, especially with Sigma's actions concerning Isoc, X had changed. The kind of damage some people were evidently willing to do, not because of a twisted ideal, but because the Hunters had been in the way of more power, had struck X's core. He had probably taken the Guardians farther underground than Cain had probably anticipated, and had made plans with additional bases and equipment scavenged from the outposts. Signas was sure X wasn't getting enough sleep, and the fact that X, who normally wore the armor sets only into battle (and avoided it even then if possible), now wore one as a matter of course, made Signas wonder if maybe the dreams for peace had died and turned into a dream of simply a truce and balance between the various forces at work. 

  
  


Signas kept those thoughts to himself. The fight went on, and they did their best to minimize damage. The last year had been rough, and someday all the losses they'd suffered would find peace in X's heart, or he would die trying.

  
  


*********************

  
  


"It failed again sir," reported Double. Sigma cursed. Three Mavericks had perished in the latest attempt. Sigma was in a delicate position. Mavericks were not easy to control, and he could not, and would not, merely be content to hide forever. Certain feelers of his had been squashed. Sigma knew direct military activity would still be far too likely to be destroyed. The GSF had said the Viral threat had stopped, a truly bizarre statement that almost no one accepted. It didn't make sense, with whom Sigma figured was pulling their strings. 

  
  


Besides, if Sigma launched an Uprising, the Hunters (Sigma wasn't calling them by their name change, as Maverick Hunters were what they were) would be forced to come and destroy him. They had done well in the recent Mars campaign, though that had really been a minor operation on both sides. Sigma had long decided the fear of the two rogue groups of Reploids were what was slowing down his former associate's plan. Sigma decided it was best for Reploids to keep it that way. Yes, someday Sigma's order would arrive, of Reploids living happily under his rule, but he could wait. He had been waiting. Plans and new weapons were being constructed that would give Sigma his best chance ever of winning his little game against X. Who knows, perhaps X would come to see Sigma's viewpoint? Far stranger things had happened in the last year.

  
  


******************

  
  


Wily rested in his cozy little next in cyberspace and watched the world's networks traffic around him. So much of that data was filtered and delivered to him, and a significant but smaller fraction was under his total control. Soon both fractions would become whole. 

  
  


It was taking longer than he expected, but the old journals and files of his predecessor had led the program to at least understand what was going on. It was amazing what a few simple mechanicals could do to slow down carefully defined plans. Still, they could really only delay the inevitable. This world was Wily's at least partially in fact, and soon would be in name. Elysium would soon exist.

  
  


*****************

  
  


Despite various attacks by various foes, some human, some mechanical, over the centuries, New York was still huge, having gained a few extra boroughs as it gradually merged with the rest of the Northeast seaboard. Paraphrasing, one humorist had noted, "A pigeon can fly from Boston to Washington D.C. without ever having to not land on a skyscraper." 

  
  


Still, the very nervous Reploid troop, a member of the GSF but on his 'night job' was surprised by how little aboveground had been built in the area. A commercial development in the area, approximately fifty kilometers from downtown, was built mainly underground. A lot of buildings used similar approaches now days, as it was safer from the occasional Maverick in the area. 

  
  


Still, the GSF's 'other' superiors had directed him to go to a small restaurant in the area. Catering to both Reploids and humans, it tended to favor Reploids slightly with offering a bed and breakfast as it had recharge and minor repair facilities. He took a deep breath and walked in nervously. It was later in the day, so the restaurant was more of a bar. A group of heavy looking Reploids and a few humans were playing cards, and several other people were watching a soccer game on TV. No one spared the small Reploid more than a glance. 

  
  


A TINY person, apparently Japanese, was waiting behind the bar, apparently serving a water to a fish-like Reploid. Over-energizing could create a state similar to drunkenness in Reploids, and there were very few ways short of getting hooked directly to a power plant to over-energize faster than heavy water, one of the best fuels possible for on-board fusion plants. The girl, really, put a shot of cherry juice into the glass and passed it over. "Here you go, Surge!" she said cheerfully. The fish-bot nodded and walked over to the card game.

The reploid shrugged. He had heard some old refitted combat models ran the bar, but instead there was a girl. He walked up closer, intending to ask where the management was, and then his eyes narrowed. You can make a Reploid look darn life-like, but all Reploids were a lot denser than humans, and the distinctive heavy footfall shocked him. There were very few human look alikes being made recently, and he actually felt better when he could see felinoid eyes as well as small claws on her hands. So she had been rebuilt into a less threatening form from some other body type, that made sense. 

  
  


"Excuse me, I'm here for a pod, preferably something with a northern exposure?" the trooper asked, voice cracking slightly. To Jazz, though she wasn't calling herself that recently, it was a sign that made her wonder why X hadn't wiped the planet with these bozos yet. It was amazingly amateurish, and quite a few of the regulars leaned around to wonder what was up. Jazz waved them down. Jazz noted the small record capsule he had deployed too early, rolling it nervously with his hand.

  
  


"Come right with me, sir," she said, trying very hard not to sigh. They climbed upstairs, and the trooper was far too shifty. As soon as they climbed down the flight of stairs, Jazz whirled. "All right? Which one are you working for? Probably not X, he's smarter than this." 

  
  


"Yeah, and I assume the GSF's main command has nothing to do with you being here," said a male voice. Another short Reploid was leaning against a pod, wearing typical early-spring wear and apparently cleaning off a claw. "After all, the existence of the Guardians isn't something they official acknowledge, and they're usually glad for the help, as long as it's on official projects."

  
  


The trooper started to make innocent protestations that he wanted to help the old Hunters, but Jazz cut him off with one hand. "I guess we're still safe, old lover," Jazz noted, "He's still sending in idiots." Bebop nodded. Obviously, the rumors of anti-Maverick activity, and some information gathering, hadn't too much substance yet, but this was a reminder to be more careful. 

The trooper, finally panicking, started to fire at them with his standard plasma sidearm. Ducking quickly, but still standing basically still, both were quickly covered in their armor. Jazz reached behind her, and took out her beam saber, quickly thrusting it forward. Instead of plasma, a sharp spike of metal, vibrating at a super-high frequency, was issued from the handle and through his torso, causing some major damage. Bebop launched an energy beam through the same spot, aiming carefully at the frozen and terrified trooper, who collapsed. 

  
  


"Your first mistake was even coming down here. Our advertisement on the Net says the accommodations are upstairs. You should have wondered why we were taking you to our private quarters," Jazz chided, and then slumped. She really hadn't wanted to do it, and hoped the trooper's nerve would have broken, but he was scared enough to make mistakes, but not make the big one of running that would save his life. 

  
  


Bebop shook his head, "Surge will take the body, I guess. I guess we'll stash the record beads with the others." Jazz nodded. Bebop seemed morose over the necessity, but another piece of possible evidence to trace back would do some good. They were very close, they hoped to putting the pieces together, and there was something in the air that said everything was coming to a head.

  
  


To be continued in Mega Man X 2.5

  
  


Author's Notes: The rest of chapter 10 and this were difficult to write. I didn't want to screw over my characters, but it makes a better setup. X.5 had a decent ending. X1.5 doesn't. We'll see about 2.5

  
  


But it's finished, and thanks to everyone who's reviewed! I really enjoyed writing this section. The first one was a bit more Mary Sueish, but this one set things up more as an AU, where instead of Sigma's alliance with the doctor in X5, things got split up a bit. Jazz and Bebop had no real effect, but they're surviving the simulator is the real divergent point. 

  
  


Why did Lancer suffer damage, Rock a lot of damage, and X get singed? Easy, Rock's armor wasn't really boosted, and Isoc had a charged shot. Lancer was built for speed, but X was equipped with some of the best defenses ever built into a Reploid on the planet. He's the god-like powerful one here, and I like to keep that fresh in people's minds occasionally. This is X and Zero's story, even if we see it from other viewpoints a lot. 

  
  


Yes, I said armor SETS in this one. It'll be explained in 2.5, and yes, Jazz's technique use will be explained better next time. 

  
  


So, to explain these little pieces. 

  
  


Alia, Gate, and Wolf are operating on Mars, dealing with things apparently related to the GSF. They are the only Guardians stationed there, as most remain on Earth, with most of the population and the center of both Reploid and human civilization.

  
  


Zero and Iris are on Eurasia, hunting a rumor. Whether it's related to the Nightmare system or possibly Sigma's Viral research is unknown.

  
  


Sigma is hoping that X will see things as he does related to the Reploids, and join forces. At that point, Sigma figures nothing will stop him from eliminating humanity.

  
  


Wily may have some control over the GSF (he does have control over small splinters, as Jazz and Bebop noted) in totality. He's working on expanding that, and he's getting the Nightmares ready. Elysium is a dig at the X6 plans for peace, as MMZ seems to indicate they fell through, huh? 

  
  


Jazz and Bebop are flying solo and under cover in America. They're apparently serving as an information clearinghouse, and are also trying to track down proof of Wily, probably related to the Rock issue. I'll explain why they suspect Wily in 2.5 The named 'extra' Reploid in this scene is the first Reploid Jazz and Bebop met in the present era. He's about chapter 4 from X.5, and mentioned once until now. Let it never be said I forget a character.

  
  


I'm promising a lot, aren't I? Anyway, 2.5 takes place one year after the end of Chapter 10. The Hunters and Mavericks are both underground, fighting each other and the new foe. Meanwhile, Elysium moves towards completion, and the world will tremble.

  
  


After all that angst, here's some Omake!

  
  


**************

One plan for the end of X1.5

  
  


"I am not Sigma," stated the voice.

  
  


"Wily," X said bluntly. Everyone looked surprised and he shrugged, "Listen. If it's not Sigma in one of these situations, it's ALWAYS Wily." Everyone nodded in agreement, and Wily cursed.

  
  


"Just for that, I'm blowing up you and your little Headquarters too!" raged Wily. Everyone laughed until Cain came on..

  
  


**************

This fits well with the Sigma battle.

  
  


"Tell me Zero, how is it you keep rising to bedevil me?" asked Sigma angrily.

  
  


"Easy, I just pick up one of these little things shaped like my helmet, and whenever I die, I just teleport back part way through the stage!" Zero said proudly.

  
  


"Ah, extra lives. You may be wiser than I thought," Sigma nodded sagely.

  
  


*******************

If real life were like the video games....

  
  


"I am about to grant you the untested Ultimate Armor, X. It has great power and unlimited Nova Strikes," stated the hologram of his father.

  
  


"Um, sorry dad, but I just jumped up and down a few times before I got here and it magically appeared," X said sheepishly.

  
  


"Well, bring in Zero!" Light snapped, "I've got some upgraded black armor."

  
  


"Got it!" wafted a voice through Skull Fortress.

  
  


"!@#%" said Light. 

******************

Noting too many similarities between NGE late-episode angst-fest and X...

  
  


"Maverick Hunter Headquarters will explode in four minutes," stated Cain.

  
  


"Alia, activate the 666 program," X snapped.

"Hai, sempai!" stated the former researcher, and then gasped, "Dame desu! It's already infected all three computers..." 

  
  
  
  


I'll stop there... Until 2.5!

  
  


tremor3258


End file.
